Right now, landlords in Asheville, North Carolina, like many others in the Southeast, are dealing with abundant apartment supply. But that doesn’t mean long-term investors don’t see long-term upside in the market.
For instance, Madison Communities already has two properties in the area and sees strong demand drivers.
“We own deals in the market,” Collin Ross, senior vice president of portfolio management at the company, told Multifamily Dive. “The market reports tell us what’s happening, but we own live data in real-time.”
That gave the Charlotte, North Carolina-based multifamily development and investment company the confidence to acquire Venture at Long Shoals, an 86-unit class A property in Arden, North Carolina. It closed on the deal in late November and announced it last week.
“We feel like we’re buying at a time when rents are at their lowest point,” Ross said. “There’s a lot of upside and the long-term fundamentals of the market continue to be good.”
With the purchase of the property, rebranded as Madison Long Shoals, the company has more than 10,000 units in various stages of long-term ownership and development.
Madison Long Shoals sits near Lake Julian and offers long-range views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The property’s amenities include a fitness and yoga studio, coworking and conference spaces, a resident clubhouse, secure package rooms and outdoor gathering areas.
The community is minutes from Asheville’s medical corridor, major employment centers, highly rated schools and dining and retail options in Biltmore Park.
“The average home price around the asset is around $825,000,” Ross said. “Asheville is not a cheap place to live. Most of the apartment assets that they’re building are for 55-plus or for the person who is moving into town and doesn’t know where they’re going to live. They’re very high-end apartments.”
Madison Long Shoals has rents between $1,585 and $2,655 per month, according to Apartments.com. That puts it below those luxury rentals in the market, according to Ross. “It’s a unique niche of service workers [as residents], but it’s still a brand-new asset,” he said.
Ross estimated that there were a number of strong offers for the property, which was marketed by CBRE. “We looked at this deal several months ago off-market,” he said. “We bought at a significantly more reasonable price when it went to market.”
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