News
MULTIFAMILY MONDAY: The Band is Back
August 15, 2011
| Rob Meyer says it best: "We got the band back together." He and two other Julian LeCraw alumni have formed a new venture to buy value-add apartments throughout the Southeast. | |
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| In an exclusive interview this morning, we learned that Catalyst Development has purchased Hidden Pointe, a 435-unit apartment complex in Stone Mountain. Catalyst Development's Mark Mechlowitz and Rob (outside their converted office off Garrett Street in Downtown Atlanta) formed the company late last year and have so far purchased Huff Heights townhomes from SunTrust and Brownstones at Edgewood on Memorial Drive from Bank of Atlanta. Now Rob tells us Catalyst will be looking almost exclusively for apartment deals it can turn around. And that may mean new development as well, as Rob says they are eying parcels in metro Atlanta to develop apartment communities. | |
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| Here's Hidden Pointe, Catalyst's latest purchase on Covington Highway. The company paid $6.6M for it after Fannie Mae foreclosed for more than $10M last year (Cushman & Wakefield's Chris Spain and Nathan Swensen brokered the sale). Rob says this is an ideal investment for Catalyst. A property not maintained with depressed rents and few bidders. ?We knew that it was going to require a significant amount of capital improvement, probably as much as we were going to be paying for the property,? he says. With rents at 50 cents/SF, Catalyst is aiming to push them up to 70 cents/SF within three years. ?All we have to do is get our rents from where we are today to where our competitors are today in three years—that's a home run.? | |
