Philly Investor Bags Jacksonville Apartment Community for $56M

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Jacksonville, Fla.—GoldOller Real Estate Investments LLC has acquired Country Club Lakes Apartments for $56 million. The 555-unit property, which was built in the mid-1990s, is in East Jacksonville, the district east of downtown.

The acquisition was made through Philadelphia-based GoldOller’s private open-ended apartment fund, which was launched in January 2010. The fund now holds a portfolio of about 6,500 units located in seven states valued at about $500 million, and GoldOller says that it might buy $250 million more this year.

GoldOller is no stranger to the greater Jacksonville market. The company also owns and operates the Club at Town Center, a 432-unit apartment community in Jacksonville’s Southside (Town Center) area. According to the company, both properties will offer GoldOller’s new “Life on the GO” resident services, which include onsite fitness classes, nutritional counseling and yoga.

The property wasn’t on the market that long, since buyers of all stripes are actively seeking apartment properties even in non-gateway but economically sound cities, such as Jacksonville. CBRE Group Inc., acting on behalf of the seller, brought the property to market only in Sept. 2012, as part of a three-property portfolio for sale as a portfolio, or singly.

Jacksonville has recovered from the recession better than many places, and the prospect for job creation in the area in 2013 is good: an estimated net increase of 9,700 jobs, or a 1.6 percent expansion of the area’s employment base. That compares with 3,000 jobs created in 2012.

Investment specialist Marcus & Millichap reports that local apartment vacancies dropped 120 basis points in 2012 to 8.1 percent. It predicts that metro Jacksonville asking rents will rise 3.4 percent in 2013, with effective rents gaining 3.1 percent. There will be a fairly large number of new units on the market, however—approximately 1,500—to compete with existing properties.