Continental Realty Corporation (CRC), a Baltimore-based real estate investment and management company active in 12 states, has completed the $86.5 million acquisition of Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square, located at 7200 Alden Way in Elkridge, Maryland. CRC now owns and manages 18 multifamily communities throughout the state. Developed by Preston Partners and delivered in 2019, the 258-unit, five-story apartment community was 94 percent leased at the time of this transaction. As part of the acquisition, CRC will assume the in-place 35-year amortizing fixed-rate HUD loan at a 2.79 percent rate. Mike Muldowney, Executive Vice President at CBRE, represented the seller in this off-market transaction.
This is the fourth asset purchased on behalf of the Core Multifamily Fund, LP, a private equity fund sponsored by CRC in partnership with Brown Advisory, a global private and independent investment management and strategic advisory firm headquartered in Baltimore. The open-ended fund, focused on stabilized or near-stabilized opportunities, was formed to identify and acquire Class “A” garden and mid-rise communities located primarily in the southeastern United States and featuring top-quality finishes and amenities.
CRC subsequently acquired two assets in North Carolina: St. Mary’s Square North Apartments, a 65-unit multifamily community in downtown Raleigh, for $36.5 million in 2022, and Sycamore at Tyvola, a 288-unit community in Charlotte, for $96.3 million in 2023. Last month, CRC purchased Bristol at New Riverside, a 166-unit multifamily family located in the greater Bluffton-Hilton Head, South Carolina area, for $44.5 million.
With the Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square acquisition, CRC now owns and manages more than 4,800 apartment units throughout Maryland, with a concentration in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. This represents the company’s first multifamily community in Howard County.
Institutional-quality asset with 996 square foot average unit size
Situated within Oxford Square, a 122-acre mixed-use transit-oriented development (TOD) located in the heart of the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. corridor, Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square consists of a single five-story building featuring one-, two-, and three- bedroom floorplans ranging from 725 to 1,407 square feet with an attached parking deck. The average unit size is 996 square feet, with a ratio of 40 percent one-bedroom, 51 percent two-bedroom, and nine percent three-bedroom apartment homes. In addition, 85 percent of the apartment homes are market rate units, and the remaining 15 percent are moderately-priced dwelling (MPD) units.
Each Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square apartment home features nine-foot ceiling heights and best-in-class interior finishes, including granite countertops, tile backsplashes, two-tone wood cabinetry, vinyl hardwood plank flooring, oversized windows, kitchen islands, expansive closets. Select units also have balconies. The units are equipped with stainless steel appliances, side-by-side refrigerators, and full-size washers/dryers in a dedicated laundry room inside the apartment. The multifamily community was constructed in compliance with National Green Building Gold certification standards.
Resident amenities include a large clubhouse and state-of-the-art fitness center equipped with a dedicated yoga room and kid’s activity space; clubroom with fireplace; library, work, and study spaces; game room; and digital access package-acceptance lockers. Outdoor amenities include a resort-style saltwater swimming pool with sundeck, an open recreation and entertainment area, playground, pet spa, bike storage area and grilling/BBQ area. The exterior grounds feature expansive courtyards and green space suitable for a variety of activities or relaxing, as well as community trails.
Asset situated within walkable, master-planned community
“This investment provided the rare opportunity to acquire a best-in-class asset entrenched in a vibrant and amenity-rich transit-oriented development in the virtual heart of the third-largest regional economy in the United States and seventh largest in the world,” stated Ari Abramson, CRC’s Vice President of Acquisitions. “We had our sights set on the Howard County area for an extended period, and given that our corporate headquarters is located 30 minutes from the site, we can immediately scale our asset and property management operations to the benefit of our entire 16-site statewide portfolio.”
“Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square delivers an extremely high quality of life, given its placement within Oxford Square’s thoughtful community design equipped with open spaces and trails, restaurants and retail amenities including a childcare facility, and two of Howard County’s highly-ranked public schools,” Abramson said. “Transportation options are always top-of-mind for residents in the DMV area, and the nearby MARC Station provides quick connections to two major cities, while the adjacent Interstate 95 and MD Route 295 offer immediate access to the entire DMV.”
BWI Airport is less than seven miles away, Reagan Washington National Airport is 32 miles from the site, and Washington Dulles International Airport is approximately 60 miles away.
Oxford Square received the Community of the Year Award in 2018 from the Maryland Building Industrial Association.
“The majority of Oxford Square is comprised of single-family townhomes, and over the past 12 months, 20 homes within the community sold for an average price of nearly $530,000. Given this price point, renting an apartment at Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square represents a more viable option for residents in the Baltimore-Washington corridor,” Abramson stated.
Industry diversity and proximity to Nation’s Capital drive economic momentum
Howard County and Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square are located near the mid-point between Baltimore, and the Nation’s Capital. Baltimore has 1.4 million jobs focused on banking, insurance, steel processing, shipping, and transportation, while the Nation’s Capital features the highest percentage of recession-resistant jobs, with 41 percent working in education, government, and health services. Six miles away, more than 56,000 employees work at Fort George G. Meade. Columbia features corporations such as Certis, MedStar Health, Pandora and Shimadzu, with a combined workforce totaling 100,000, less than seven miles from Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square. Ten miles to the north in Baltimore, companies such as Exelon, Johns Hopkins University, Lockheed Martin, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price, and Under Armour combine to employ nearly 350,000 workers.
The Baltimore-Washington corridor is the most concentrated cybersecurity region in the nation, with Maryland considered to be a cybersecurity command center. More than 12,000 information technology companies employ more than 112,000 cybersecurity workers in Maryland and generate more than $45 billion in economic activity annually, according to the Maryland Department of Commerce.
Other top employers in the area include Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (15,000 employees), University of Maryland College Park (14,000 faculty and staff), BWI Airport (10,000 employees), Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (10,000 employees) and White Oak Research Campus (8,000 employees).
Exceptional demographics create sustained demand for rental housing
The average household income within a one-mile radius of Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square exceeds $100,000. More than 65 percent of Howard County’s population has a Bachelor’s degree or higher, representing a highly-desired talent pool for area employers, and more than 23 percent of all workers are government employees.
The ranking and review site Niche rated Howard County as the “best county to live in Maryland” and the “best public school system in the state” and US News & World Report calls Howard County “the wealthiest county in Maryland.”
“Dartmoor Place at Oxford Square is the ideal addition for our Core Multifamily Fund, due to its leasing success and placement within a vibrant mixed-use community with an extremely high barrier to entry,” stated JM Schapiro, CRC’s CEO. “Acquiring this asset below replacement cost is a strong testament to the diligence of our acquisitions team, their use of data analytics, and the strength of their industry network.”
Overview of $145 million Core Multifamily Fund
The Core Multifamily Fund is focused on acquiring newly developed properties in high-growth suburban and urban markets throughout the Southeast, including Charleston, Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh, Orlando, and Tampa.
“After primarily targeting the southeast for our initial acquisitions for the Core Multifamily Fund, we turned our attention to CRC’s backyard in Maryland, which also offers compelling investment advantages driven by its location close to the Nation’s Capital, enduring job growth, deep labor pool, and high quality of life,” Schapiro said. “Leveraging an extremely favorable capital structure to current market at 70 percent loan to value, and acquiring the asset in an off-market acquisition from the original developer, showcases the resourcefulness and creativity of our entire team.”
