Dealmaker: TruAmerica Multifamily, Ares Management Acquire $236M Apartment Portfolio

Ares Management, New York, and TruAmerica Multifamily, Los Angeles, acquired a 1,402-unit suburban Baltimore, Md. multifamily portfolio for $236 million.

The six-property portfolio includes properties in some of the strongest multifamily submarkets in greater Baltimore: Dominion at Eden Brook and Dominion Kings Place in Columbia, Md., Lakeside Mill in Owings Mills, Md., Ellicott Grove in Ellicott City, Md., Arborview at Riverside and Liriope in Belcamp, Md. and Dominion Constant Friendship in Abingdon, Md.

Multi-Housing News magazine reported that real estate investment trust UDR, Highland Ranch, Colo., sold the assets. 

TruAmerica said nearly 50 percent of the units are slated to be renovated, offering a significant value-add opportunity. The partnership will implement a multi-million dollar renovation and repositioning program across the entire portfolio including landscaping, painting and updated signage outdoors and new appliance packages, faux-wood hard-surface flooring and new countertops in the rental units.  

Ares Management Partner Steven Wolf said the acquisition represents the asset manager’s equity value-add strategy, which focuses on areas with strong employment centers and unit-enhancement opportunities.

Over the past decade, Ares’ U.S. equity value-add strategy invested in more than 27,000 apartment units across its most recent funds.

This represents TruAmerica’s second significant investment in the region since entering the market five months ago by acquiring three apartment communities in Baltimore and Annapolis, Md. totaling 1,004 units for $187 million. Including the Baltimore portfolio, TruAmerica now has more than 32,000 multifamily units under management with 2,400 in Maryland.