Providence Investments Purchases 194-Unit Pensacola Apartments

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Pensacola, Fla.–Providence Investments of Birmingham, Ala., has acquired Heritage Apartments, a 194-unit multifamily property in Pensacola. Heritage Apartments, built in 1970, is a 20-building, garden apartment complex on 16 acres at 6115 North Davis Highway.

Common amenities include a fitness center, playground, and laundry facility. The property, which is pet friendly, includes one-, two- and three-bedroom units that range from 750 square feet to 1,600 square feet, with rents from $650 to $1,210 per month.

To facilitate the deal, Miami-based Aztec Group Inc. secured $9.1 million in acquisition financing. Basis Investment Group, a New York-based conduit lender, provided the loan. The financing terms include a 75 percent loan-to-cost ratio, 10-year term, five years of interest-only payments followed by a 30-year amortization, and a fixed interest rate below 4.5 percent.

Pensacola has been a growth market for apartments recently. According to ALN Apartment Data, marketwide occupancy stood at 95 percent in November, up 2 percentage points since the same month a year ago. Concurrently, both asking and effective rents have been rising since a year ago: up 3.6 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.

Among stabilized Pensacola apartment properties, only 8 percent are offering any kind of leasing concession these days, down by more than half since a year ago. Also, the value of the few concession packages on offer is down by almost 70 percent, ALN reports.