Toronto firm adds to Indianapolis holdings with two apartment acquisitions

A Canadian multifamily real estate investment firm has acquired a pair of aging apartment complexes in Indianapolis and plans to upgrade and rebrand the properties, which contain nearly 500 units.

Toronto-based firm Emma Capital Investments Inc. bought Brandywine Apartments, 8444 Rothbury Drive, and the Hunt Club Apartments, 5421 Calder Way, in two late-November deals. The price of the purchases was not disclosed.

The properties are the fourth and fifth to be bought by Emma Capital since May, when the company first entered the Indianapolis market.

The group said it plans to update each property, in addition to rebranding each site. Indianapolis-based Flaherty & Collins Properties has been hired to manage the properties.

Brandywine, built in 1974, includes 296 units with interior finishes that haven't been updated since the complex opened, the new owners said. The two-story complex is on the north side of Indianapolis, east of St. Vincent Hospital. It was previously owned by a limited-liability company with a Michigan address.

The 200-unit Hunt Club apartment property, on the city's northeast side, near Lawrence, is also prime for redevelopment. Emma Capital said the community could see rent increase after a renovation. The previous owner was Gene B. Glick Co.

"We feel that both Brandywine and Hunt Club are strong performers and are poised to benefit from value-add initiatives such as enhanced exterior and common area amenities, and unit interior upgrades," Brian Rakowski, Emma Capital's Indianapolis asset manager, said in written comments.

The firm did not say when renovations would begin.

Emma Capital bought three other local properties in May and June—the Retreat Northwest, the former Courtyards at Kessler and the former Salem at 56—for a combined $63.8 million.

The Retreat Northwest is a 336-unit complex at 1130 Racquet Club Drive North, near West 96th Street and Ditch Road.

The Salem, now called The M Club Apartments, at 7007 Courthouse Drive, north of Lawrence, have 388 units.

The Courtyards, now called The Aura apartments, is a 125-unit complex at 3035 W. 39th St.

Each of the properties were built in the 1970s and were updated by their previous owners to offer improved fitness centers, covered parking, business centers and gate-controlled access, according to Emma Capital.

However, the company expects to invest an undisclosed amount of money in updating interiors of the properties, about 90 percent of which have their original finishes. Flaherty & Collins is also now managing those properties.

Emma Capital, founded in 2012, owns more than a hundred Class B apartments nationally totaling about 9,000 units, in markets including in Nashville, Atlanta and Phoenix. The company says its portfolio has an asset value of more than $1.1 billion.