On June 17, Elme Communities’ liquidation hit a roadblock when The Beitel Group terminated the $280 million purchase and sale agreement to acquire the 1,222-unit Riverside Apartments in Alexandria, Virginia, and related undeveloped land, according to a June 24 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Bethesda, Maryland, REIT regrouped quickly, however. On July 23, it announced that an Elme subsidiary entered into a contract with FPA Multifamily LLC to sell the massive apartment complex and undeveloped land for $250 million — $30 million less than the amount in the terminated agreement, according to a separate filing with the SEC on the same day.
FPA Multifamily was required to make an aggregate earnest money deposit of $4 million, with the first $2 million installment required to be funded within one business day of signing. If the San Francisco-based private investment firm does not terminate the agreement on or before the expiration of an inspection period, which expires on Aug. 20, 2026, unless the period is extended, it must provide the remaining $2 million deposit installment within one business day of the expiration of such inspection period.
Closing for the property should be no later than Sept. 14, 2026, subject to limited exceptions. FPA Multifamily purchased four other Elme properties, according to the filing.
Additionally, the REIT agreed to sell the 193-unit Elme Bethesda to CAPREIT for $59 million, according to a May 27 filing with the SEC. The inspection period for the asset was extended to June 4, and the purchase price was reduced to $58 million, according to a June 24 SEC filing.
On July 23, after the receipt of the certificate of compliance from the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs certifying compliance with Montgomery County’s right of first refusal requirements for the property, Elme and CAPREIT’s assignee, Tilden Bethesda Hill Apartments LLC, amended the agreement for closing to occur no later than Aug. 11, 2026.
Elme began its selloff last year. After initiating a “formal evaluation of strategic alternatives” in February 2025, it sold 19 properties to an affiliate of Atlanta-based investor, developer and manager Cortland Partners for $1.6 billion in cash last November.
As of July 24, Elme had sold six of its 10 remaining properties following the Cortland sale, per the June 23 filing. It has entered into agreements to sell its four remaining properties, with three of those no longer subject to ongoing inspection periods. It expects those sales to generate aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $418 million.
Elme completed the sale of the 210-unit Elme Watkins Mill in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to RailField Partners on June 10, according to the June 23 filing.
Jon Siegel, co-founder and chief investment officer at RailField, told Multifamily Dive in emailed comments that “buying from a liquidating REIT was a little different than typical just because they have some different motivations than everyone else.” However, he said it ended up being easy to work with Elme.
“We were concerned that they would have checked out in managing the property and that there would be nobody on the other end of the phone when we did the deal, but it turned out that Elme’s management was strong and the team that we worked with was very responsive and professional,” Siegel said.
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