DALLAS, TX - BRT Apartments announced it acquired, through a joint venture in which it has a 50% equity interest, Mercer Crossing, a 509 unit Class A multi-family property centrally located in the Farmers Branch area of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas for $85.7 million, including $55.2 million of mortgage debt obtained in connection with the acquisition. The debt carries an interest rate of 4.22%, is interest only for five years and matures in 2028.
BRT acquired, through a joint venture in which it has a 58% equity interest, a 44 acre land parcel in the Bells Bluff area of Nashville, Tennessee, for $5.3 million. The venture contemplates developing a 402 unit Class A multi-family property at this site for an estimated $73 million, which will be funded in part by an estimated $47.4 million of construction financing.
The construction financing, which will be advanced as construction progresses, matures in 2022 and bears interest at the rate of one month LIBOR plus 285 basis points. BRT has agreed to contribute up to $15 million of equity to this venture, of which $4.8 million has been contributed to date.
Jeffrey A. Gould, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, "We continue to identify high quality sun-belt multi-family properties to acquire and are pleased to add Mercer Crossing in Dallas, Texas and a new development opportunity in Nashville, Tennessee to the portfolio. Mercer Crossing, which was built in two phases from 2014 to 2016 and the Bells Bluff development will reduce the average age of our portfolio and improve its quality. Both are off market transactions, which we believe came to BRT as a result of the strong reputation we have in the market as a creative and well-capitalized partner.”
Mr. Gould continued, "These two acquisitions bring our total 2017 capital deployed to $71.7 million. We are confident in our abilities to continue to find accretive acquisitions and enhancing the cash flow stream of our growing portfolio."
BRT Apartments is a REIT trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BRT) that is focused on investing directly and through joint ventures acquiring existing multifamily properties, and to a limited extent ground up development of multifamily apartments.