Editor’s note: Joe Edge brokered the sale of the $17.4 million complex and is both the president of Sherman & Hemstreet Real Estate Co. and the publisher for The Augusta Press.
Three apartment complexes with a total of 200 units located in Aiken County sold for $17.5 million on July 19. Despite this large transaction, apartment sales more than $10 million are trending downward, so this may not be a good indicator that large sales are going to continue for the area.
Springer Capital, LLC, an investment firm out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, acquired the three apartment complexes, Greenbriar Apartments, Dexter Arms and Bluff Manor, on July 19. These properties are not the first Springer has owned in the CSRA.
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- Bluff Manor Apartments, Aiken SC. Staff Photo.
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- Bluff Manor Apartments, Aiken SC. Staff Photo.
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- Dexter Arms Apartments, Aiken SC. Staff Photo.
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- Dexter Arms Apartments, Aiken SC. Staff Photo.
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- Greenbriar Apartments, Aiken, SC staff photo courtesy of Steve Bracci via Sherman & Hemstreet Real Estate Company.
According to Tom Farnoly, principal at Springer, the company focuses on acquiring apartment complexes in strong markets in the Southeast. The company currently owns 600 units in the Augusta area.
“Between Fort Gordon, the investment in cybersecurity and a strong medical presence in Augusta, the job growth in the MSA has been extremely robust,” Farnoly said. “We are excited to expand the portfolio with the addition of three more quality properties in Aiken.”
The sale comes on the heels of a hot market that seems to be slowing. The trend over the last few years has been for older apartment complex sales to be to out of town investors who dominate the market. Most of those sales have resulted in the properties being improved, followed by large rent increases.
In 2018 Springer, purchased a Skinner Mill Road apartment complex formerly known as Millbrooke Pointe for more than $18 million. They sold the property three years later for $46 million after a renovation of the complex. The complex is now named Icon Waverly and was purchased by a different out-of-state investment group, according to recorded deeds.
In 2020, Springer purchased West Eagle Green Apartments off of Boy Scout Road for a little more than $10 million. The property has since been renamed the Hendrix Apartment Homes and is still owned by Springer.
Despite the $17.5 million sale, metrics on sales obtained from Costar, a commercial real estate database, indicate that large transaction of more than $10 million are slowing down.
According to Costar, 43 apartment complexes including the July 19 transaction have sold for $10 million or more each since January 2019.
Large apartment complex sales saw an 83% increase from 2019 to 2020 and another 81% increase from 2020 to 2021. However, sales volume for large multi-family complexes in 2022 has drastically slowed with only six local complexes having sold through mid-July.
In 2018 and 2019, apartment complex sales accounted for 50% of the property sales of more than $10 million. In 2020, the numbers were much higher – 78% – and dropped in 2021 to 64% of total transactions over $10 million. Year to date, they have dropped even lower to 37.5% of sales over $10 million.
The majority of other sales over $10 million between 2018 and 2022 has consisted of industrial and retail properties with a few hospitality and office building sales mixed in.
Since January 2018, the area has seen 85 transactions of more than $10 million. Of those 85, eight sales were for more than $20 million and two were for more than $30 million. The largest sale was for $36.49 million in 2021 for a warehouse occupied by John Deere in Grovetown.
