National real estate private equity fund manager Citymark Capital, in partnership with InterCapital Group, has acquired a two-property, 554-unit Evergreen apartment portfolio in the Atlanta suburb of Fairburn, GA for $69.4 million. The acquisition of the Evergreen portfolio represents Citymark’s 12th transaction since its inception in 2015, bringing total units acquired to 3,345 and approximately $513 million of gross asset value.
The 310-unit Evergreen Park and 244-unit Evergreen Terrace are gated, garden-style communities, located approximately five miles apart in Fairburn, a bedroom community 17-miles south of downtown Atlanta. Evergreen Park and Evergreen Terrace, built in 2002 and 2008 respectively, include a mix of one,- two- and three-bedroom apartment homes. Evergreen Terrace also offers a four-bedroom floor plan. The amenity rich communities feature swimming pools, tennis courts, outdoor grilling areas, putting green, children’s playgrounds and fitness centers. The portfolio was 95 percent occupied at closing.
Both communities were institutionally owned, and the joint venture will continue the seller’s capital improvement program upgrading unrenovated units across the portfolio with new flooring, appliances, hard surface countertops, hardware and lighting. All common areas also will be upgraded and pet and leisure amenities will be added.
Located in South Fulton County, the properties benefit from numerous demand drivers, most notably their proximity to several of the region’s most significant employment hubs including downtown Atlanta and the Palmetto-Fairburn-Union City Corridor. Part of the I-85 Corridor, the primary logistics route in the Southeast United States, the Palmetto-Fairburn-Union City Corridor has witnessed explosive economic growth over the past five years with Amazon, Duracell, Lowe’s and Samsung increasing their presence in the region. Additionally, the properties are approximately 10 miles from Aerotropolis Atlanta, a community-derived development plan to drive economic investment, job growth and quality of life around the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The largest airport in the world by passenger traffic, Hartsfield is currently undergoing a $6 billion expansion and modernization, which will build upon its $71 billion economic impact on the area.
“Atlanta’s strong job growth, which is expected to continue for the next decade, has fueled rental demand, particularly in the moderately priced submarkets like South Fulton County,” said Citymark Founder and CEO Daniel Walsh. “Leveraging on our partner’s experience and economies of scale, where they own and operate more than 5,500 units in the Atlanta metro, we plan to create housing environments that our tenants will be proud of, while at the same time generating attractive risk adjusted returns for our institutional investors.”
Citymark entered the Atlanta market in 2018 with the acquisition of a 240-unit community in Atlanta’s I-20 West submarket. Citymark successfully exited the investment in May 2019, as part of a $138 million portfolio sale that included assets in Las Vegas and Phoenix.
The Atlanta-based CBRE team of Kevin Geiger, Paul Berry, Malcom McComb, Shea Campbell, Ashish Cholia and Colleen Hendris represented both parties in the transaction.