The Witham Apartments (“Witham” or the “Property”) was built in 1981 and contains twenty (20) one-bedroom units situated in two, two-story buildings.  The Property is located adjacent to the highly desirable South Congress Avenue (“SoCo”) area of Austin, providing a quiet residential environment while being just blocks from hip restaurants and shopping, as well as the major transportation arteries of Highway 290, Mopac and IH-35. We viewed the Property’s location as excellent, with the Austin CBD only a few minute drive down either South Congress Ave, or First Street—the two major North-South arteries connecting downtown Austin and major residential areas.

The Property’s desirable in-fill location is directly in the path of growth, which we felt would bolster its mid-to-long term value. Our business plan was to aggressively manage Witham to maintain and enhance the strong cash flow characteristics of the investment. Our plan also called for the continued modernization of unit interiors and the Property’s exterior.

Recent leases and market trends prior to our purchase of Witham indicated upside potential, and we viewed the SoCo to remain a very tight, concession free submarket driven by the demand metrics of Austin’s growing population and strong private/public sector job growth.  We also viewed the Property as an attractive, lower cost housing alternative to the newer product in the area, including planned developments for the CBD. Because our capital partner was largely a merchant builder, and desired to redeploy his capital after our successful repositioning, we sold Witham and realized a return that far exceeded our original projections.