July 13, 2023
The EPG/ASFM properties acquisition is important news as Dallas and Houston face a critical shortage of affordable housing.
The Woodglen Park apartments in Southwest Dallas were part of a statewide rental property purchase made by Dallas’ Elizabeth Property Group.(Contributed / Elizabeth Property Group)
By Steve Brown, Dallas Morning News Published July 13, 2023 | 3:19 P.M.
A Dallas-area apartment community has traded as part of a more than 1,400-unit statewide affordable property purchase.
The 232-unit Woodglen Park Apartments on South Cockrell Hill Road in southwest Dallas was one of six affordable rental communities acquired by Elizabeth Property Group. Other properties in the big purchase are in Houston, Beaumont, Huntsville, Bryan-College Station and Wichita Falls.
The rental communities included in the deal were built with low-income housing tax credits and house about 3,000 residents.
Elizabeth Property teamed up for the acquisition with American South Real Estate, a company based in Louisiana and California that invests in transformative real estate projects in urban markets.
The new owners plan to renovate the Texas properties. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“Preserving 1,444 affordable units for low-income Texans is the type of project that meets the core of our mission,” Deborah La Franchi, American South Real Estate managing partner, said in a statement. “Our funds’ investment with Elizabeth Property Group ensures that all of these units will be low-income housing tax credit for the next 20 years.”
Property renters must have incomes less than 60% of the area median income to qualify for reduced-rate units. The apartments were 94% leased at the time of sale.
“The Texas low-income housing tax credit portfolio exemplifies Elizabeth Property Group’s mission of maintaining quality affordable housing for local residents,” Tisha Vaidya, co-founder and principal of Elizabeth Property Group, said in a statement.
Founded in 2020, Elizabeth Property acquires and rehabilitates affordable apartment units.
During the last five years, American South Real Estate’s funds have made 22 investments in Texas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Arkansas totaling $96 million in equity investment. The company has invested in 5,000 housing units, with 80% considered affordable units.
American South Real Estate previously partnered with former Dallas Cowboys star Emmitt Smith’s E Smith Communities on a renovation project in southern Dallas.
