Investors buy 400 housing units at former Navy base, plan to add 200 more
Courtesy / Schott Management
Woodland Village, one of the rental properties sold at Brunswick Landing.
More than 400 units of former military housing in Brunswick and Topsham have been sold by Midcoast Affordable Housing, a company owned by Auburn developer George Schott, to a group of investors.
The Portland Press Herald reported that the sale to investors from Maine and Texas closed on June 30. The sale price was not disclosed, but the newspaper reported that Brunswick Landing Venture LLC, the investment company purchasing 334 units at Brunswick Landing, borrowed $32.9 million to complete the deal. The remaining 73 units located in Topsham were purchased by Patriot Brunswick Holdings LLC, the newspaper reported.
One of the partners in the deal told the newspaper that they are likely to keep the properties — which include single-family homes, duplexes and quadraplexes — as rental units. Schott’s company purchased 702 Navy housing units in 2010, a year before the former Brunswick Naval Air Station was decommissioned under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure nationwide downsizing of military bases. It sold some of the units and has been renting its Topsham units for $985 to $1,385 and its Brunswick units for $1,000 to $1,850.
Chris Rhoades, a Falmouth real estate developer and partner in the deal, told the Press Herald that the investment groups could build up to 200 units of additional housing to meet local demand for housing.
Significance of transaction
Craig Young, a partner at CBRE | The Boulos Company, was the listing broker for Schott’s Midcoast Affordable Housing. In addition to the 407 apartment units sold in Brunswick and Topsham,Young told Mainebiz in a phone interview that the investment groups have an option to purchase 190 units of former bachelor enlisted quarters at Brunswick Landing from Schott.
He characterized The Presidium Group, a Dallas-based real estate company that owns thousands of rental units in Texas and Oklahoma, which partnered with Maine investors Rhoades and Andrew Preston on the deal, as a major investor in rental properties.
“They own and manage more than 10,000 units,” he said. “It’s a very significant sale. It’s probably the largest residential sale in the Midcoast region ever.”
Young added that the purchase highlights the strength of the Brunswick region’s market, which is fueled by the ongoing successful redevelopment at Brunswick Landing. He also credited Schott for making a significant investment to renovate the sold properties after he had purchased them from the Navy in 2010.
“When George bought them, these units were only 10% to 15% occupied,” Young said. “He repaired the roofs and completed major renovations. He has filled them all. They’re 100% occupied. George is that kind of turnaround guy. This was the right time for him to sell.”
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