The Aspen Companies Acquires Five HUD Properties in Southeast

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Teaneck, N.J.—The Aspen Companies has acquired five HUD properties totaling more than 700 apartment homes in prominent southeastern cities, which will significantly increase its presence in key urban markets in that section of the country.

The acquisition consisted of properties in Greenville, S.C.; Augusta, Ga.; Gainesville, Fla.; and two in Memphis, Tenn.

“By tapping into niche markets such as HUD apartment buildings, we’ve been able to grow our business tremendously over the past three years with value-added acquisitions,” Adam Mermelstein, a principal of The Aspen Companies, says. “Specifically, we’ve focused on distressed properties in urban middle-class neighborhoods where there’s a strong demand for quality housing that’s also affordable. While these properties have been underperforming, the locations make them prime candidates to be repositioned into positive cash flow holdings.”

The Gainesville property is Majestic Oaks, a collection of 172 garden-style apartment homes located at 5800 SW 20th Avenue, was purchased for $6.5 million. The community consists of one-, two- and three-bedroom homes and the property contains an on-site pool. Improvements planned include new roofs, parking lot paving, building siding, interior apartment renovations, resurfacing of the basketball and tennis courts and upgrading playground equipment.

Located at 201 East Telfair St., near the historic section of Augusta, Ga., River Glen, 192 two-bedroom rentals situated in 23 buildings, was purchased for $4.9 million. Planned upgrades include improvements to the roofing, common area hallways, landscaping, playground equipment and interior apartment renovations.

In Memphis, Aspen purchased the 150-home Keystone Landing community for $4.5 million and the 120-unit Pendleton Place community for $3.14 million.  Located at 4266 Ridgestone Road in the Raleigh section of Memphis, the gated Keystone Landing community features one-, two-and three-bedroom homes in two-story buildings. Improvements planned include roofing, common area hallways, landscaping, the addition of security patrol and interior apartment renovations.

Pendleton Place features two-bedroom apartments situated near the Memphis International Airport at 1780 Pendleton Street. Improvements planned are similar to Keystone Landing.

In Greenville, Aspen purchased Fleetwood Manor, a two-story garden apartment community at 25 Fleetwood Drive, for $3 million. The community consists of 100 one-, two- and three-bedroom homes. Aspen will renovate the property including roofing, interior renovations and the addition of new amenities, including a playground.

The Aspen Companies is already one of the leading HUD owners and managers in the Northeast. According to Mermelstein, the company has turned its attention to Southern markets as part of an aggressive expansion program to add a large number of high-performing and well-located project based Section 8 apartment assets to its growing portfolio of rental homes.

“Our acquisition approach and strategic improvement programs have allowed us to purchase, renovate and reintroduce them as modern apartment communities complete with all the necessary social programs and amenities that are still within the budgets of working families,” he says. “It’s a recipe that’s been tremendously successful in the northeast where all of our HUD properties are achieving historically high occupancy levels. We fully expect the same results in these recently acquired southeastern assets.”