The C-shaped building was initially built as offices for the Virginia Commission for the Blind. (Mike Platania photo)
One of the larger apartment complexes in Carytown has changed hands.
The Parkwood apartments, which sit just south of the neighborhood’s commercial corridor at 3003 Parkwood Ave., sold earlier this month for $5.5 million. With 32 units, the deal amounts to $171,000 per door.
Once the offices for the Virginia Commission for the Blind and more recently an assisted living facility, the 84-year-old complex was converted into apartments in 2017 by locally based Crescent Preservation & Development Co., which was the seller in the deal.
The buyer was Lakeland Capital, a private investment firm that entered the Richmond market in 2022 when it bought a pair of buildings along Arthur Ashe Boulevard as well as an 18-unit building on West Grace Street near VCU. It added a 66-unit complex off Riverside Drive last year and has now spent $22.5 million on real estate in the city.
Lakeland’s total portfolio counts over 700 apartments, 152 of which are in Richmond. Principal John Carroll said The Parkwood was the type of asset the firm looks for in Richmond.
“In the Fan, Carytown and Museum District, which is where we’re focused, this is really exactly what we’re looking for in terms of size,” Carroll said. “It’s big enough for us to be able to implement a pretty comprehensive value-add strategy, but still small enough that we’re playing in a space where there aren’t as many institutional groups (competing).”
Carroll said the apartments were about 85 percent occupied at the time of sale. Lakeland declined to disclose the apartments’ rental rate. The city most recently assessed The Parkwood at $5.7 million.
Newmark’s Garrison Gore represented Lakeland in the deal, which closed Jan. 16.
The units at The Parkwood are in great shape, Carroll said, given they were just redeveloped by Crescent about five years ago. Carroll noted that Lakeland is planning to refresh some units’ interiors.
Lakeland financed the deal with a loan from Freddie Mac, which it used to assume Crescent’s existing loan. Carroll said the firm financed the balance with equity Lakeland raised through its investor network.
Lakeland was founded in 2021 in the New England region and is now headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina. The firm has been on a southward path of investment along the East Coast.
“We’re really just following demographic trends, and a lot of what we liked about Richmond is what is bringing us farther south to Charleston, Savannah (Georgia), and so on,” Carroll said.
The Parkwood was the third property Zac Frederick’s Crescent Preservation & Development Co. has sold in the past year.
Frederick, who wasn’t available for comment by press time, recently sold a former auto garage in Church Hill to a local Midas franchisee for $1.6 million as well as the Ipanema Cafe building on West Grace Street to VCU for $4.4 million.
The C-shaped building was initially built as offices for the Virginia Commission for the Blind. (Mike Platania photo)
One of the larger apartment complexes in Carytown has changed hands.
The Parkwood apartments, which sit just south of the neighborhood’s commercial corridor at 3003 Parkwood Ave., sold earlier this month for $5.5 million. With 32 units, the deal amounts to $171,000 per door.
Once the offices for the Virginia Commission for the Blind and more recently an assisted living facility, the 84-year-old complex was converted into apartments in 2017 by locally based Crescent Preservation & Development Co., which was the seller in the deal.
The buyer was Lakeland Capital, a private investment firm that entered the Richmond market in 2022 when it bought a pair of buildings along Arthur Ashe Boulevard as well as an 18-unit building on West Grace Street near VCU. It added a 66-unit complex off Riverside Drive last year and has now spent $22.5 million on real estate in the city.
Lakeland’s total portfolio counts over 700 apartments, 152 of which are in Richmond. Principal John Carroll said The Parkwood was the type of asset the firm looks for in Richmond.
“In the Fan, Carytown and Museum District, which is where we’re focused, this is really exactly what we’re looking for in terms of size,” Carroll said. “It’s big enough for us to be able to implement a pretty comprehensive value-add strategy, but still small enough that we’re playing in a space where there aren’t as many institutional groups (competing).”
Carroll said the apartments were about 85 percent occupied at the time of sale. Lakeland declined to disclose the apartments’ rental rate. The city most recently assessed The Parkwood at $5.7 million.
Newmark’s Garrison Gore represented Lakeland in the deal, which closed Jan. 16.
The units at The Parkwood are in great shape, Carroll said, given they were just redeveloped by Crescent about five years ago. Carroll noted that Lakeland is planning to refresh some units’ interiors.
Lakeland financed the deal with a loan from Freddie Mac, which it used to assume Crescent’s existing loan. Carroll said the firm financed the balance with equity Lakeland raised through its investor network.
Lakeland was founded in 2021 in the New England region and is now headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina. The firm has been on a southward path of investment along the East Coast.
“We’re really just following demographic trends, and a lot of what we liked about Richmond is what is bringing us farther south to Charleston, Savannah (Georgia), and so on,” Carroll said.
The Parkwood was the third property Zac Frederick’s Crescent Preservation & Development Co. has sold in the past year.
Frederick, who wasn’t available for comment by press time, recently sold a former auto garage in Church Hill to a local Midas franchisee for $1.6 million as well as the Ipanema Cafe building on West Grace Street to VCU for $4.4 million.
Congrats to both Zac and Garrison for the transaction. That building was a mess when Zac purchased it with its poor management and service to its residents.He turned it into a strong neighbor in Carytown
Very interested to understand why the vacancy rate was so high at the time of the sale. 5 out of 31 units were vacant at the time of the sale especially considering we are in the middle of academic year. It was also sold under its city assessment for property in Carytown.