Portland Investor Gets 2 Atlanta Apartments From Related Group
A major Miami-based commercial real estate developer has unloaded two Metro Atlanta luxury multifamily properties for more than $200M.
Related Group sold Manor Barrett, a 347-unit apartment complex in Kennesaw, and Town Laurel Crossing, a 360-unit complex in Buford, to “a privately held multifamily owner operator,” according to a press release.
The sale of Town Laurel Crossing was first reported by Multi-Housing News. Town Laurel Crossing has since been renamed Timberline View.
The LLCs of the buyer in both cases are tied to Portland, Oregon-based multifamily firm GSL Properties, according to documents in the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority database. Town Ventana Ranch LLC paid $110M for Town Laurel Crossing in Buford, and Barrett El Paseo LLC paid $106M for Manor Barrett, according to the authority’s database.
A security deed between Walker & Dunlop, which originated a Freddie Mac loan of more than $137M for the purchaser, and the LLC entities that purchased Town Laurel Crossing was signed by GSL CEO Walter O. Grodahl. GSL’s Jack Grodahl declined to comment. Related Group didn't respond to messages seeking comment.
Walker & Dunlop Managing Director Mary Stuart Hurst said the acquisition of the two properties from Related was a 1031 exchange, fueled after the buyer sold several affordable housing properties in Portland.
“This was specific to their investment strategy. They look for these well-built, Class-A properties in strong submarkets,” Hurst said. “They have the conviction they will perform well in the long run.”
GSL’s inaugural investment in the Atlanta apartment scene ranks among the highest-priced sales this year.
Overall, investors are picking up their buying activity in the area. Buyers shelled out $2.3B for apartments in Metro Atlanta during the first half of the year, eclipsing the same period in 2024 by 45%, CoStar reported. One large sale, Equity Residential’s purchase of a slew of Atlanta apartment properties for $535M from Blackstone, accounted for more than 20% of that $2.3B figure.
There have been other big-price-tag purchases. In June, Atlanta-based Cortland closed on the purchase of a stake in the apartment tower Cortland at Buckhead Village for $150M. The stake had been held by an affiliate of WeWork founder Adam Neumann’s housing company, Flow, according to CoStar data obtained by Bisnow. Nuveen, Jamestown and Penler have been grabbing multifamily properties in 2025, as well.
GSL has had a busy month in real estate transactions, selling a 13-property portfolio made up of more than 2,700 units in Oregon and New Mexico to Chicago-based National Equity Fund and Guardian Real Estate Services for $444M, MHN reported. The transaction was the largest purchase by NEF, a nonprofit multifamily and affordable housing investment management firm, according to MHN.
Hurst and Senior Director Fletcher Dunn originated the Freddie Mac financing for the Manor Barrett and Town Laurel Crossing sales. Managing Directors Chris Goldsmith and Telly Fathaly, Director Cameron Dunn and Associate Director Riley Hall arranged the sales for Related, according to a press release.
Both properties were developed by Related in the past two years, entering submarkets in the metro area that were facing a shortage of institutionally developed apartments, Hurst said.
The shrinking pipeline of new apartments is one of the dynamics attracting institutional investors to Metro Atlanta apartments, according to a midyear Atlanta multifamily report by CRE financing firm Northmarq, with investors especially focused on supply-constrained suburbs.
“Investors continue to pursue yield and growth in fast-growing suburban and outer-suburban submarkets, where nearly 70% of 2025 transactions have occurred,” Northmarq National Director of Research Pete O’Neil wrote in the report.
Debt for apartment investors isn't in short supply either, Hurst told Bisnow.
“The liquidity is certainly there on the multifamily space,” she said. “The agencies are full throttle. We had no trouble getting debt quotes from a variety of sources for these assets.”
