An LA multifamily investor only had eyes for Duluth. We spoke with Oak Coast Properties CEO Matt Heslin fresh from his purchase of Promenade at Berkeley, a nearly 500-unit apartment complex that he bought with Investors Management Group for $33.7M from Chicago-based The Laramar Group. Matt says this is his firm's debut into Atlanta, a city where he wanted a value-add property in a very specific submarket. “We were not necessarily focused on the Atlanta market, per se,” he says. "But we did see a difference in the Duluth market.” (Duluth, you're blushing so hard right now.)
Matt says he was attracted to Duluth because of the growth there, especially among tech and international companies. Even with the prospect that Duluth's largest employer, NCR, may leave to move elsewhere in Atlanta (as we reported here), Matt says he's confident on the North Gwinnett city's vitality. “I think what we see over there is the opportunity for national firms to view Duluth as a viable option for regional HQs.” Oak Coast is not looking ITP for apartment buys either. “The core markets have just become so over-priced,” he says. “We do not intend to compete at that level. We're not going to overpay in that market, that's for sure.”
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