ARED-HOT investment market has led South Carolina-based Johnson Development Associates to consider something it hasn’t done in 17 years: selling some of its Haven apartments.
Johnson Development has listed for sale six of its 12 completed Haven apartment communities, which are all in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, said Ben Graves, president of the company’s multi-family division.
One of the six is the 232-unit Haven community in Fredericksburg’s Celebrate Virginia South. Johnson Development listed that property for sale this past week with national brokerage firm Apartment Realty Advisors’ Mid-Atlantic division in McLean. It’s not being marketed at any specific price.
The local Haven complex was finished this summer, and already it’s about 95 percent leased. Graves said that success has led to many unsolicited inquiries from investors about whether Johnson wanted to sell. Though that hasn’t been the firm’s strategy in the past, and may not be in the future, Graves said a decision was made to test the waters.
“We have to be aware of opportunities,” he said.
Graves said Johnson Development privately finances its properties, and that it’s not capital-constrained. But he did acknowledge that selling some properties could accelerate the firm’s ambitious growth plans.
Locally those plans include developing as many as 480 Haven apartment units near the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center and another 250 units next to the first phase of the Celebrate Virginia project. Grading for the first phase of the Cosner East project has started, and Johnson Development plans to buy the 14 acres for the second phase in the city within the next few weeks.
Demand for apartments in Fredericksburg and beyond has been driven by a number of factors. It’s been hard for some to get mortgage loans. Others have lost their homes to foreclosure. Many have decided maybe a house isn’t such a great investment. And others have opted for the flexibility that apartment living offers. The Haven is the newest apartment community in the area (though Cobblestone Square in Fredericksburg will soon take that title, at least for a little while), and it has benefited from the rental trend.