Camden buys trio of inner Loop properties
Camden Property Trust recently purchased of a trio of multifamily properties totaling 552 units in one of Houston’s most prestigious neighborhoods, less than a mile from its Greenway Plaza headquarters.
The publicly traded real estate investment trust purchased the Aria at Willowick Park, Olympia at Willowick Park and The Townhomes at Willowick Park from longtime Houston apartment developer and operator Martin Fein Interests. The properties, which occupy 10.2 acres south of West Alabama at Las Palmas Street near River Oaks, were completed in 2015. The purchase included an adjacent 2.25-acre development site, which is used as a dog park.
The project, renamed Camden Highland Village, is one of four communities totaling 1,380 units purchased by Camden in 2019. The latest acquisition, which closed Dec. 19, was announced along with The Carolinian, a 186-unit complex in Ra
leigh, N.C., for a combined purchase price of $222 million.
“We believe the purchase price of these assets is significantly below replacement cost,” Richard J. Campo, Camden’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement, “and expect these acquisitions to produce a stabilized yield of approximately 5 percent.”
For the year, Camden spent $440 million on apartment acquisitions plus three undeveloped land parcels for approximately $37 million, the company said. It exited the Corpus Christi market with the sale of two wholly-owned communities with 632 units and a joint venture complex with 270 units. Camden cleared net proceeds of about $75 million from the Corpus Christi sales.
Houston, along with Washington, Atlanta and Dallas, are the largest markets for Camden, which owns interests in and operates 164 properties totaling more than 56,000 units across the United States.
Camden Highland Village, located just west of Weslayan, offers a variety of floor plans with high-end amenities a few miles from employers both downtown and in The Galleria area. An aging rental townhome community was torn down to make way for the development, saving many of the old oak trees in the process.
Inspired by Paris
When the Willowick project opened, Martin Fein said three different architectural styles were used “so that it emulated a neighborhood where you might have different architecture styles of the single-family homes.”
The project offered smaller units in one of the mid-rise buildings, larger units in another and even larger units in the 38 threestory townhomes west of Las Palmas. A one-acre park was inspired by the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris and serves as a central gathering place.
The project is the largest yet to be developed by Fein, which has developed approximately 13,000 apartments since 1989 and is planning a community in Springwoods Village.
“It was an honor to develop and manage three product types at Willowick Park which we hope enhanced the neighborhood,” said Rebecca Luks, vice president of Development at Martin Fein Interests. “We know Camden will be a great owner and operator of the development heading into the new decade.”