After being a net seller over the past three years, during which the firm sold over $840 million of real estate across 13 properties, CREC is starting to uncover a higher volume of attractive investment opportunities.

The Columbus-based real estate firm is excited to announce that it has agreed to terms with the owner of Hartford Village Commons in Columbus.

CREC’s reputation and track record allowed the firm to win the deal at a lower price than the buyer selected in the owner’s first attempt to sell the property. The purchase price represents a 6.0% cap rate based on trailing performance, which CREC anticipates will allow for free cash flow immediately after takeover.

CREC has a value-add business plan for the 2015-vintage property that includes bringing the rental rates to market rate and executing unit upgrades to enhance marketability. CREC’s property management affiliate has been engaged to operate the asset on behalf of CREC.

The Columbus multifamily market continues to be strong, with year-over-year rental rate growth of 4.8% in the MSA and 6.0% within the submarket last year (per RealPage).

Columbus has benefited from major corporate announcements over the past two years. Intel selected central Ohio as the site for a $20 billion semiconductor fabrication investment, which is the largest single private-sector investment in Ohio history. Honda and LG are collaborating on the ongoing construction of a $4.4 billion EV battery factory southwest of Columbus. Other notable recent economic developments in the area include Amgen’s plant that opened in February and major data center investments from Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.  Amazon’s massive new 151-acre data center is less than 5 miles from Hartford Village Commons.