CHAPEL HILL, NC - Atlanta-headquartered ARA, the largest privately-held, full-service investment advisory brokerage firm in the nation focusing exclusively on the multihousing industry, announces the sale of the 236-unit, Autumn Woods community located in Carrboro, NC which is considered part of the Chapel Hill market, one of the highest barrier-to-entry markets in the southeast.
ARA Charlotte-based Principals, Blake Okland and Dean Smith, along with brokers Sean Wood and John Heimburger represented Fairfield Autumn Woods LLC in the sale. San Diego based Fairfield Residential is a privately-held multifamily real estate operating company that provides services to investors throughout the life cycle of a real estate project including acquisitions, entitlement, development, construction, redevelopment, property and asset management, and disposition.
“As evidence of the extreme barriers-to-entry in the Chapel Hill market, no out-of-state developer has built in Chapel Hill in over ten years, despite the most frenetic development pace in the Triangle’s multifamily history,” noted Dean Smith. “Only 827 market units have been permitted and built since 2000 in Chapel Hill (less than 83 units per year) excluding private student housing which only added an additional 236 units during the same time period (less than 24 per year). Both the cost to permit and the level of detail needed to present to the planning committee is very high and discourages most outside developers. Also, much of the Chapel Hill region falls within a large watershed district, imposing further development restrictions.”
Centerville, Ohio-based, The Connor Group (www.theconnorgrp.com), a regional multi-family owner and operator specializing in the acquisition of Class ‘A’ properties in top locations was selected as the buyer and purchased Autumn Woods for $26.25 million. Securing an asset in the highly sought after Chapel Hill submarket of the Triangle helps to further diversify Connor’s holdings in the broader market.
Constructed in 1997, Autumn Woods is located less than two miles from The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC), the oldest state university in the United States which also accounts for nearly 17,000 jobs in the Chapel Hill area.
Autumn Woods was 94% occupied at the time of the sale.
To schedule an interview with an ARA executive regarding this transaction or for more information about ARA, nationally please contact Lisa Robinson at lrobinson@ARAusa.com, 678.553.9360 or Amy Morris at amorris@ARAusa.com, 678.553.9366; locally, Cassandra Rusnak, at rusnak@ARAusa.com or 704.379.1987.
About ARA
Atlanta-headquartered ARA is the largest privately held, full-service investment advisory firm in the nation that focuses exclusively on the brokerage, financing and capital sourcing of multihousing properties including conventional, affordable, distressed assets, notes sales, seniors, student & manufactured housing and multihousing land. ARA is comprised of the country’s top investment professionals who leverage a unique and fully integrated cooperative business platform of shared information, relationships and technology driven solutions. ARA’s unified enterprise approach ensures that clients are delivered the broadest asset exposure, effective matching of buyers and sellers, and the shortest transaction timeframes in the industry. The combination of resources, unparalleled market expertise and nationwide presence in the multihousing marketplace has resulted in average annual production volume of $5.4 billion in real estate transactions since 2004. For detailed information on ARA’s extensive multihousing investment services, visit www.arausa.com.