Behringer Harvard Buys 312-Unit M-F Property in Jacksonville

 By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Behringer Harvard has added Wimberly at Deerwood, an apartment community in Jacksonville, Fla., to Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT II Inc.’s portfolio. The real estate firm, in a joint venture with ApexOne Investment Partners Inc., acquired the 312-unit property from Equity Residential. 

The dollars-and-cents of the transaction have not been publicly disclosed; however, Equity spent approximately $38 million to develop Wimberly in 2000. Today, the property offers notable upside potential that Behringer Harvard plans to capitalize on through a series of improvements that will be made over the next few years. The upgrades certainly won’t hurt efforts to attract and retain tenants in a multi-family market that, while still strong, is expected to experience a bit of a decline.

With approximately 1,500 brand new apartment units scheduled to come online this year, the vacancy rate is on track to increase 40 basis points to 8.5 percent this year, according to a report by Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services. The upswing will mark the end of three straight years of annual declines in Jacksonville’s vacancy rate. 

Behringer Harvard is jumping on any number of opportunities when they arise in South Florida. Earlier this month the company announced an investment in an apartment community to be developed in suburban Miami. However, the company is also selling in the area when the time is right. Behringer Harvard and a joint venture partner pocketed $56.3 million on the disposition of Parrot’s Landing, a 560-unit multi-family property in North Lauderdale, a few months ago.