Waterton Acquires Orlando Apartments
Waterton Associates has acquired Promenade Crossing, a 212-unit garden-style apartment community about three miles northeast of downtown Orlando.
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
Orlando, Fla.—Waterton Associates LLC has acquired Promenade Crossing, a 212-unit garden-style apartment community about three miles northeast of downtown Orlando. It’s the second property acquired by Chicago-based Waterton in 2015 and adds to the company’s portfolio in Florida, where it owns five other rental properties comprising more than 2,300 units.
Promenade Crossing, a gated community with a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, is located on Maguire Blvd. and borders Baldwin Park, a master-planned community built on the site of a former naval training center that’s currently home to more than 8,000 residents and 125 businesses. About a half-mile southwest of Promenade Crossing and Baldwin Park is the Orlando Fashion Square shopping center, which is currently undergoing a redevelopment that includes the addition of Orlando’s first Westin Element hotel.
Waterton is currently reviewing renovation plans for individual units at Promenade Crossing, as well as the property’s common areas and other amenities, better to take advantage of the strength of the local market. The Orlando apartment market continues to benefit from high occupancies and steady rent growth, which makes it attractive from an investment standpoint, notes Max Peek, senior vice president of acquisitions at Waterton Associates.
According to MPF Research, occupancies in greater Orlando stood at a high 95.6 percent at the end of 2014. With relatively few vacancies, owners were able to increase rents 0.6 percent quarter-over-quarter during Q4 2014, which took annual rent growth to an eight-year high of 4.7 percent.
MPF adds that demand for apartments in the Orlando market remained around a decade high during the last half of 2014, reflecting pent-up demand for new units. Though new supply slowed revenue growth at the top of the market, apartments developed before 2000 continue to do very well, particularly in pricing, because of Orlando’s recent strong economic growth.
