ORLANDO, FL - Bluerock Residential Growth REIT, Inc. has increased its ownership interest in the Enders Place at Baldwin Park property to 89.5% from 48.4% in an acquisition that closed on September 10, 2014. Enders Place is a Class A 220-unit luxury multifamily rental community in the award-winning Baldwin Park community in Orlando, Florida.
With this investment, the Company has deployed substantially all of the net proceeds from its IPO in April 2014.
BRG’s underwriting projects a stabilized 6.25% return on cost of the additional investment beginning in year two. The Company believes this return compares favorably with sales of comparable multifamily communities in the Orlando, Florida area which are trading at average cap rates of 5.25% - 5.50%. BRG invested $12.4 million in purchasing the additional equity, comprising $4.4 million in equity and $8.0 million in financing proceeds.
BRG originally invested in Enders Place as a “fractured condominium” in October 2012, acquiring 198 units of the 220-unit development with its joint venture partners at a 6.7% cap rate. Since that time, ownership has been successful in acquiring the 22 remaining units, collapsing the condominium, and converting the property to a Class A rental community.
“We view this investment as an opportunity to consolidate and simplify our ownership in a highly attractive Class A asset in a market with high barriers to entry that, we believe, has significant rental growth upside,” said Ramin Kamfar, Chairman and CEO of BRG.
In conjunction with the acquisition, BRG announced that Bell Partners will serve as property manager for the asset. BRG, working with Bell Partners, plans to continue to enhance interior units and work to improve rental rates at Enders Place. Company officials say they chose Bell, which has a sizable footprint in the Southeast, for its track record of improving property management while leveraging economies of scale via its national and local operating platform.
Enders Place is one of several communities within the larger Baldwin Park development. Pedestrian-friendly with 215 acres of park space, nature trails and amenities, Baldwin Park is a popular and award-winning, low- to medium-density planned community and is an example of New Urbanist design. The development, which was built in the early 2000s, also features high-end housing, top schools, and quality shopping, restaurants and fitness facilities, all within three miles of Orlando’s Central Business District. Enders Place, which was built in 2003, spans approximately 232,147 square feet with an average unit size of 1,172 square feet. Units are spread across 29 two- and three-story buildings and feature amenities such as patios/balconies, crown molding, roman tubs, and European style cabinetry, among others.