Walker & Dunlop Arranges $62M for South Carolina Project

A rendering of Burnside Farms Apartments in Columbia, S.C. Image courtesy of Walker & Dunlop

South Coast Property Investments and Charlotte, N.C.-based Abacus Capital have secured $62 million in equity and debt backing the development of Burnside Farms Apartments. The 308-unit, Class A multifamily community in Columbia, S.C., is set to begin construction next month.

Walker & Dunlop’s Capital Markets team, led by Jamie Butler, Cliff Ayers, Michael Bowles and Jason McFadden, arranged the financing for the two firms.

The nearly 19-acre multifamily community is the first phase of a three-phase 34-acre mixed-use development planned by South Coast Property Investors, a Hilton Head Island, S.C.-based development firm focused on mixed-use and multifamily properties in the southeastern U.S. The second phase is slated to have about 3 acres of retail or restaurant space. The third phase would be another multifamily community, but plans for the 12.5-acre site have not been announced. Construction would not start until the first apartment complex was completed, according to the company’s website.

The two apartment communities and retail space would be located within the 155-acre mixed-use Burnside Farms master-planned development that also features single-family homes and commercial space including CVS, Walgreens and Tractor Supply.

Growing housing demand

The multifamily property will have affordable and market-rate units with a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as two- and three-bedroom townhomes. It will include resort-style amenities.

Located at the intersection of Cliff Kinder and Pineview roads, the development will have immediate access to Garners Ferry Road, one of the area’s major thoroughfares into downtown Columbia about 7 miles away. Residents would also have a short drive to major interstates including Interstates 77, 26 and 20.

The new apartment community will help meet the spike in housing demand expected from recent job announcements at nearby Pineview Industrial Park, a 655-acre speculative master-planned project, and the new Scout Motors Inc. manufacturing facility, Walker & Dunlop said in a statement. In February, Scout Motors broke ground on a $2 billion electric vehicle manufacturing facility that is expected to bring about 4,000 jobs to the area. Vehicle production is targeted to begin at the 1,600-acre site by the end of 2026, with the first retail sales of electric vehicle trucks and SUVs coming soon thereafter. The property is bordered by I-77 and Blythewood Road in Blythewood, S.C., about 20 miles north of Columbia.