Atlanta-based company acquires pair of Interstate 4 corridor apartment projects

Centennial Holding Co., an Atlanta-based company that specializes in buying Class A multifamily assets in select East Coast markets, has purchased a pair of apartment projects in the Interstate 4 corridor for a combined $72.6 million.

Century Ariva Apartments, in Lakeland, contains 312 units and was completed in 2017, while the Lakehouse Luxury Apartment Homes community has 125 units and is located in Plant City.

Century Ariva sold for $54.6 million, and the Lakehouse Luxury for $18 million.

Centennial, a firm founded in 2004 that owns apartment complexes in more than a dozen cities — four in Florida — acquired both assets from affiliates of BDR Management LLC of Weston, according to state and property records.

Commercial real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield’s Florida Multifamily Housing Group’s Luis Elorza, Brad Capas and Robert Given represented BDR affiliates Highland City Gardens LLC and Lakeside Garden of Plant City LLC in the transaction.

“We had done a deal earlier with the same developer and stayed in touch with them and subsequently followed their development pipeline, so that relationship definitely came into play with these two properties,” says Bronson Smith, Centennial’s director of acquisitions and dispositions.

“We over the past five years or so, if you look at the properties we’ve purchased, they tend to be four years old or less, so these assets fit the profile for us,” Smith adds.

At Century Ariva, which was 99% leased at the time of Centennial’s purchase, average unit size is 1,119 square feet and rents are $1,282 monthly.

Lakehouse Luxury, which will be rebranded as Century Lakehouse in keeping with the company’s portfolio strategy, the average unit measures 989 square feet and monthly rents are $1,160. The latter complex, completed in 2015, was 98% leased at the time of Centennial’s acquisition.

“These assets are among the highest quality rental communities in their respective markets and appeal to the top end of the rental market, enabling Centennial to acquire superior quality properties in a high-growth market that exhibits consistent, strong performance with few direct competitors and a limited development pipeline,” Elorza says, in a statement.

Prior to the Lakeland and Plant City purchases, Centennial in Florida had owned apartment properties in Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando, according to its website.