With core markets becoming increasingly over-priced, one LA multifamily investor just made its Atlanta debut in the ‘burbs. Oak Coast Properties paid $33.7M for nearly 500-unit apartment complex Promenade at Berkeley (with Investors Management Group), in Duluth, Ga. “We do not intend to compete at that level,” CEO Matt Heslin (above) says about Atlanta proper. “We’re not going to overpay in that market, that’s for sure.” The Duluth acquisition presented a value-add property in a burgeoning submarket, Matt tells us. The seller was Chicago-based The Laramar Group.

Oak Coast was attracted to Duluth because of its growth, 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 has confidence in the market’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,” he says. (Other ‘burbs take note: play up your strengths, deal economics, and how you like long walks on the beach when luring firms outside the city.)