TruAmerica buys 446-unit Dunwoody apartments from Clark Ventures

TruAmerica Multifamily announced Oct. 15 that it acquired the 446-unit Bricks at Perimeter Center, a garden-style apartment community in Dunwoody, Georgia, from Atlanta-based Clark Ventures. The purchase brings the firm to 3,374 units in Atlanta, according to Multifamily Dive.

TruAmerica bought the property preemptively, before the marketing process finished, according to Julien Lipps, its director of acquisitions for the Southeast. By that point Clark Ventures had logged 40 to 50 tours and was expecting 25 to 30 bids, he said.

"We used our extensive relationship with Clark Ventures, and we were able to do something preemptively before the actual marketing process finished," Lipps told Multifamily Dive. "We were able to take it off the shelves that way."

That relationship predates the Bricks. Earlier this year TruAmerica bought a property in Atlanta's Buckhead area, and Bricks owner Jordan Clark was part of that ownership group, according to Lipps. While pursuing the Buckhead purchase, TruAmerica told Clark Ventures it was seeking other acquisitions for its discretionary fund. CBRE Vice Chairman Kevin Geiger facilitated the sale. Lipps said Clark was with Gables when the Bricks, a Gables Residential-built property, went up.

Lipps draws a line through the Sun Belt apartment market. Newer class A properties in neighborhoods with limited supply and strong employment drivers are where investment dollars are congregating, he said, while 1980s- and 1990s-vintage buildings with deferred maintenance sit in a liquidity crunch. "The majority of the capital that is investing in multifamily in this turbulent environment is really all congregating in the same type of asset profile, which is why you're seeing dozens and dozens of bids on assets like the Bricks," he told Multifamily Dive. An older vintage deal in a B location is "very hard to sell ... all across the United States, regardless of location."

No purchase price appears in the coverage.