SAN ANTONIO, TX – Embrey, a diversified real estate investment company based in San Antonio, Texas, has acquired the Arboretum Oaks apartment community. Located in Austin, Texas, the 252-unit property built in 1984, marks the first acquisition, and 25th asset that Embrey has either developed, owned, or operated in the greater Austin area. Embrey’s nationally recognized, award-winning Embrey Management Services will take over property management duties at the community.
Located less than 15 minutes northwest of downtown Austin and five minutes west of The Domain, Arboretum Oaks offers numerous competitive advantages in terms of its accessibility, community amenities and walkable proximity to retail. Through the purchase of Arboretum Oaks, Embrey will be leveraging the explosive, pent-up demand for rental properties in a market that has added more than 80,000 jobs since 2016. Despite continued in-migration, low housing supply, and strong job creation Austin’s Arboretum area has seen only one apartment community developed since 2000.
“This is a beautiful community with great access to the Arboretum, The Domain, downtown Austin, and a number of highly sought-after employers such as Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, to name just a few,” says Alex Sampson, Vice President of Acquisitions at Embrey. “We plan to fully renovate the property to bring it up to current market standards and renter expectations. Combining the property’s prime location and remarkable bones with the red-hot rental demand of Northwest Austin makes this a terrific investment for our company.”
Fueled by the nation’s leading job and population growth, the Austin area has one of the hottest apartment markets in the country. Asking rents are now up roughly 25 percent since the start of the pandemic, well ahead of the national average. Most recently, as of the first quarter of 2022, occupancy in Austin increased three percent to 96.4 percent according to Witten Advisors.
“This acquisition signifies another step in expanding Embrey’s acquisition platform and capital base,” says Sampson. “As a vertically integrated, diversified real estate investment company, we continue to seek acquisition opportunities like this to create value for our capital partners.”
Embrey partnered with Black Salmon Capital on this acquisition with debt being funded by an affiliate of Heitman LLC, a global real estate investment management firm. Embrey and its partners were assisted in this transaction by Walker & Dunlop investment sales brokers Matt Pohl and Spencer Roy, as well as debt brokers Patrick Short and Tom Toland.