TODAY’S DEALS: Berkshire Group Takes Two Assets Off Crescent’s Hands

Crecent Ninth Street

Raleigh & Durham, N.C.—Crescent Communities has sold Crescent Cameron Village in Raleigh and Crescent Ninth Street in Durham to affiliates of Boston-based Berkshire Group. The deals are the third and fourth of nine properties included in a major portfolio sale. To date, Berkshire affiliates have purchased three of the properties.

“People want to live where they work and play,” says Todd Mansfield, president and chief executive officer of Charlotte-based Crescent Communities. “Crescent Cameron Village and Crescent Ninth Street follow our model of developing sustainable communities, including three in the Raleigh-Durham market, where residents can walk to jobs and restaurants, gather in social spaces and live comfortably.”

Crescent Cameron Village

Crescent Cameron Village features 282 luxury apartment units in the tree-lined Cameron Village—one of the first planned shopping centers in the Southeast. For the 303-unit Crescent Ninth Street, Crescent secured land on Durham’s energetic and eclectic Ninth Street near Duke University and Duke University Medical Center.

The sales of Crescent Cameron Village and Crescent Ninth Street mark the third and fourth transactions of Crescent’s portfolio sale and the second and third acquisition by Berkshire’s affiliates, which closed on the purchase of Crescent Terminus in Atlanta’s popular Buckhead neighborhood in December. Another buyer, UBS Global Asset Management, purchased Crescent Bayshore on Tampa’s premier waterfront Bayshore Drive in October.

The remaining five communities included in Crescent’s expected transactions are:

• Crescent Central Station, Orlando, Florida
• Crescent Dilworth, Charlotte, North Carolina
• Crescent Howell Mill, Atlanta, Georgia
• Crescent Main Street, Durham, North Carolina
• Crescent SouthPark, Charlotte, North Carolina

C&W secures $49.6M in construction financing for New England seniors housing

Salem, N.H. & Bulrington, Vt.—In exclusive representation of LCB Senior Living, Cushman & Wakefield Senior Housing Capital Markets has arranged $49.6 million in construction financing and joint venture equity for two senior housing developments in New England. The projects are LCB Senior Living’s seventh and eighth seniors housing developments since it began its development program in 2013.

The Residence at Salem Woods in Salem N.H., will be an 84-apartment/88-bed independent, assisted and memory care community situated in a three-story building on a seven-acre site. Wells Fargo provided $15.6 million in construction financing while the joint venture equity was provided by an institutional investor. The project broke ground in November 2014 and is expected to open in early 2016.

The Residence at Quarry Hill in South Burlington, Vt., will be a 102-apartment/104-bed independent, assisted and memory care community developed on a 2.7-acre site just outside of downtown Burlington, Vt. The land site was acquired as part of a larger portfolio acquisition that occurred earlier in 2014, which included two premier seniors housing properties in Vermont. PNC Bank provided $18.4 million in construction financing, while Virtus Real Estate Capital provided $8.5 million in joint-venture equity. Construction will commence in January 2015 with a planned summer 2016 opening.

The Cushman & Wakefield team involved in the transactions included executive managing director, Rick Swartz; managing director, Jay Wagner; director, Aaron Rosenzweig; and associate, Stuart Kim.

“The organization has demonstrated the ability to appropriately scale as a company, attract best-in-class employees and find highly desirable development sites and acquisition opportunities, all of which have resulted in attracting best-in-class capital partners,” Rosenzweig says.

Dobbins Group completes and sells 135-unit upscale apartment community

Birmingham, Ala.—Dobbins Group LLC recently closed the sale of the company’s 135-home upscale multifamily development, The Moretti at Vulcan Park, in Birmingham, Ala., to Raia Properties for $24.6 million. The Birmingham-based firm purchased the parcel in 2012 with the intention of redeveloping the existing 1940’s era housing with first-in-class home and community amenities. Construction was completed in June 2014 by Birmingham-based Capstone Building Corp. Cushman & Wakefield, led by Michael Kemether represented Dobbins Group in the sale.

“The Moretti has given new life to the area around Vulcan Park and Museum by adding a community that offers luxury living in a convenient location, while generating an attractive return for our investors,” says Bill Dobbins, principal of Dobbins Group.

“The Moretti has upped the ante for luxury apartments in Birmingham,” says Mike Kemether, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield’s Multifamily Advisory Group, the broker representing Dobbins Group on the transaction. “Bill and his team put a lot of thought and sweat equity into the Moretti, and it shows with the finished product, and, ultimately, the strong rents and leasing velocity they were able to achieve at the property.”

The Moretti features primarily one and two-bedroom homes, with a limited number of three-bedroom units. The homes feature upscale finishes such as kitchen islands, granite countertops, walk-in closets in every unit and many more. In addition, The Moretti provides a distinctive living experience with an urban architectural design, a resort-sized salt-water pool, state-of-the-art fitness facility, cyber cafe and heavily landscaped courtyards complete with fountains.