Wade Apartments sold Wertland Square and Jefferson Commons apartment buildings to Education Realty Trust Inc. Tuesday.
"We have recently identified Charlottesville as a terrific collegiate market that we want to have a greater presence in," said Matt Fulton, regional director of Education Realty Trust, a collegiate housing business which owns 56 different collegiate communities around the country.
Wertland Square and Jefferson Commons, located on the Wertland Street and on Jefferson Park Avenue respectively, are inhabited almost exclusively by University students.
Education Realty Trust acquired the GrandMarc apartment building from Phoenix Properties last October. Fulton sees the two newly acquired apartment buildings as complements to the GrandMarc community, located on 15th Street.
"We're obviously very excited to have now three communities all within walking distance of Grounds," Fulton said.
Wertland Square and Jefferson Commons are currently 100 percent occupied and 100 percent pre-leased for the 2011-12 academic year, according to the Education Realty Trust's Tuesday press release.
Wertland Square opened in 2006 and has 152 beds, with an average monthly rental rate of $708 per bed. Jefferson Commons opened in 2007 with 82 beds and 22 unfurnished apartments. The average monthly rental rate per bed is $578.
Wade Apartments, one of the largest student housing owners in Charlottesville, contacted Education Realty Trust in January to draw up an agreement, Wade Apartments General Manager Wade Tremblay said.
"It was a good time for us to sell these two properties," Tremblay said.
Fulton said the two companies will cooperate throughout the transition.
"We certainly work side-by-side with the Wade Apartments team to make sure this is smooth for the current residents and that we are honoring their leases, as well as the leases for the following term," he said. "It is important that this be perceived as a positive change for the residents."
Residents of Wertland Square and Jefferson Commons now will have access to the GrandMarc facilities, including the pool and spa, fitness center, theatre room and coffee lounge, according to a notice distributed to the apartments Wednesday.
"We want to treat our residents right," Fulton said. "We now own all three communities and want [residents] to take advantage of that."
The only other changes tenants will experience will be to whom they pay their rent, place service requests and contact for assistance, according to the notice. These requests now will be directed to the GrandMarc office, the central office for all three communities.
Everything else will remain "similar if not identical to the way we've done it," Tremblay said. Current leases will be "honored and are part of the contractual deal," he said, and "in essence will be locked in stone."
Fourth-year Commerce student Sameera Gadiyaram, a resident of Jefferson Commons, said she the acquisition of her building to another company has both advantages and disadvantages. "From what I understand [Education Realty Trust] owns a lot of premiere college apartment buildings, so there is more perspective on how an apartment should run versus just from a Charlottesville perspective," she said. Gadiyaram said she believes there are "some things that no one would have an understanding of unless you lived near the Charlottesville area," such as the importance of parking spaces for an apartment.
"I'm glad they let us know what's going on," she said of the notice that was given to all residents.
The two companies are also considering the possibility of development on land currently owned by Wade Apartments on Brandon Avenue, next to South Lawn, according to the press release. This potential development could host about 300 beds of collegiate housing.
"We expect to have a long-term presence here and that could include future developments of acquisitions," Fulton said.
Tremblay said there is no official agreement yet, but there is a "good relationship with [Education Realty Trust] and a plan to go forward - if opportunities present themselves that both of us agree to then we will take advantage of those"
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