Sherman Real Estate Fund, partners buy Arlington at Northwood

BUYER: BES Northwood Fund IX LLC (28.8439% interest), BES Northwood Fund X LLC (43.2659%), Bell Northwood LLC (23.2418%) and Emanuel Northwoods LLC (4.6484%), Deerfield, Ill.
SELLER: Arlington Northwoods Apartments Inc.
PROPERTY: 1930 Devonwood Drive, 1827 Thornhill Road and 1831, 1857 and 1910 Nadine Road, Wesley Chapel (additional addresses as well)
PRICE: $36.1 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $26.21 million, August 2006
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti LLP, New York City

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Deerfield, Ill.-based Sherman Real Estate Fund IX LLC and two of the fund's trade partners purchased the 312-unit Arlington at Northwood Apartments for $36.1 million.

The price equated to $115,705 per unit. That figure is more than the average price per unit ($70,803) for multifamily space in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The 13-building, garden-style apartment complex occupies a 43.4-acre site near The Shops at Wiregrass. Units range in size from one bedroom/one bathroom up to three bedrooms/two bathrooms and an average of 1,008 square feet. Amenities include a swimming pool, clubhouse, business center and dog park.

“We invested in the Tampa area for quite some time in the early 2000s,” says Scott Gould, senior vice president of acquisitions for the controlling entity, Sherman Residential. “We sold them off. But now we have reentered the market with the [348-unit] Enclave at Tranquility Lake in Riverview. We bought that in July 2012. Now we want to add to the portfolio. We look to have a minimum of three properties in a market from a logistics management perspective.”

He says the occupancy at Arlington at Northwood Apartments was in the low 90% range at the time of the sale, something the new owner expects to improve through renovations to the property. It was also particularly fond of the location, he says, which is in a strong area for future growth.

Sherman Residential plans to self-mange the property and has renamed it the Enclave at Wiregrass.

Sherman Residential, a division of Benj. E. Sherman & Sons Inc., is a family-owned real estate firm that focuses on apartment ownership and management. Since 1990 it has acquired more than 16,000 apartment units in 50 communities nationwide.