The Grove Somerset at 500 Bristol Blvd. in Somerset — Courtesy: CBRE
By Joshua Burd
Harbor Group International has sold a 384-unit luxury apartment community in Franklin Township, in a transaction arranged by CBRE.
The buyer, Los Angeles-based TruAmerica, is marking its entrance to New Jersey with the deal at 500 Bristol Blvd. The trade comes six years after Harbor Group’s acquisition of the asset, known as The Grove Somerset, marking the culmination of what it called a targeted value-add strategy to leverage the area’s strong fundamentals and the site’s proximity to highways such as Interstate 287.
CBRE’s Jeffrey Dunne, Stuart MacKenzie, Eric Apfel, Travis Langer and Eric Greenberg procured the buyer. Terms were not disclosed.
“We are delighted to welcome TruAmerica to metro New York with their first acquisition in the region,” said Dunne, a vice chairman with CBRE. “We expect their plans to invest capital in the common areas and units will yield positive results for them. Institutional interest in the metro New York suburbs continues to grow, and we’re excited to see TruAmerica grow their presence in the region.”
Fully completed in 2013, The Grove at Somerset consists of 384 oversized apartments on a 41-acre site. That includes 58 that are reserved as affordable housing, while the property has amenities such as an oversized pool with a sundeck, a resident clubhouse with a lounge area, a business center and 24-hour fitness center.
For TruAmerica, which has owned and operated some 4,600 apartments across the Northeast, the deal provides access to a supply-constrained, transit-oriented corridor with convenient access to major employment centers such as New York City, New Brunswick and others.
“The New York-New Jersey metropolitan area exhibits many of the characteristics that have defined TruAmerica’s most successful investments across the country, including exceptional employment diversity and scale, favorable supply dynamics, and housing affordability trends that continue to support long-term renter demand,” said Noah Hochman, chief investment officer at TruAmerica Multifamily. “The Grove Somerset provides an opportunity for TruAmerica to enter one of the nation’s most resilient multifamily markets through a high-quality asset acquired off-market at a meaningful discount to replacement cost. This acquisition is a natural extension of our Northeast investment strategy and broader national platform.”
MacKenzie added: “Given the asset’s vintage, Grove at Somerset offers attractive value-add upside through targeted apartment and amenity renovations, well-suited to TruAmerica’s investment strategy.”
HGI, meantime, said its own value-add plan focused on boosting the resident experience and driving revenue growth, with updates including renovations to unit interiors and select community upgrades.
“This sale reflects the successful execution of our business plan for Grove at Somerset and the resilience of central New Jersey’s multifamily market,” said Lane Shea, a managing director at HGI. “Over the past several years, multifamily transaction markets have faced considerable headwinds, making disciplined asset management and timing increasingly important. Through active management and strategic investments in the community, we’ve strengthened the property’s competitive position and ultimately delivered a successful outcome on behalf of our investors.”
