Gaia Real Estate announced today that it has fully exited its investment in the Copperfield Portfolio in Houston, TX. The 5-property portfolio, consisting of 1,376 multifamily units, was acquired in 2015 due to favorable long-term fundamentals and strong potential in the Northwest Houston market. The total Sunbelt dispositions to date, which included 50 garden-style properties encompassing 14,729 units has generated consideration in excess of $1.5 billion.
“We are pleased to have successfully executed our business plan for the Copperfield Portfolio and proud to have delivered significant value to our investors,” said Danny Fishman, CEO of Gaia Real Estate. “With this sale we have completed our strategy to exit most of what we think are overpriced Sunbelt markets and plan to redeploy capital into New York City metro properties and elsewhere where we can realize higher returns. We believe selling class B apartments at cap rates of 3%, even with added value, maximized our financial potential. We saw, and see in NYC, potential to deploy capital at much higher returns, even with the risks in the city that we are aware of.“
Gaia executed a capital improvement plan throughout the Copperfield Portfolio that oversaw the upgrade of clubhouses and other amenities spaces including swimming pools, state-of-the- art fitness centers, controlled access gates, laundry facilities, and children’s playgrounds. Select units were upgraded with stainless steel appliances, wood flooring, granite-style countertops, and new cabinets.
The Copperfield Portfolio is located primarily within the 2,000-acre Copperfield Master-Planned Community in Northwest Houston and sits within the Cypress-Fairbanks School District, which is considered one the of the top school systems in the metropolitan area. The property surrounds a booming industry corridor where many world-renowned corporations in energy, healthcare, engineering, and chemicals are headquartered.
