The global investment arm of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America purchased an Atlanta apartment complex in one of the most expensive trades for the metro area this year.

Nuveen paid $78M for Millworks Apartments, a 345-unit apartment complex at 1888 Emery St. in West Midtown, according to a real estate transfer form filed with the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority.

The seller was Baltimore-based Continental Realty Corp., and the transaction closed on Aug. 28. Nuveen assumed more than $53.4M in debt obligations as part of the total purchase price, according to the filing.

CRC took a small paper loss on the deal eight years after its 2017 purchase of the property from RangeWater Real Estate, which at the time was called Pollack Shores Real Estate Group, for $80M. Pollack Shores developed the property near the intersection of Howell Mill and Collier roads.

A spokesperson for Nuveen declined to comment. CRC didn't respond to messages seeking comment.

Nuveen is one of the biggest investors returning to buy multifamily properties in the Atlanta area after a prolonged sales slump. The Manhattan-based firm had $1.3T of assets under management as of June 30, including $141B of real estate.

Nuveen targets apartment assets in U.S. cities “that we believe are best positioned for demographic and structural growth,” the firm says on its website, particularly among apartments that are attractive to millennials and middle-income earners.

Last month, Nuveen purchased Uptown La Grange, a 254-unit apartment complex in suburban Chicago, from JVM Realty for nearly $88M.

The price is the sixth-highest paid for apartments in Atlanta so far in 2025, ahead of the $77M McDowell Properties paid CWS Capital Partners for The Quinn at Perimeter apartments, according to Avison Young, citing data from CoStar.

The top sale of the year so far is Cortland's assumption of Flow's ownership stake in the 425-unit apartment building at 3005 Peachtree Road NE, which was valued at $150M.