August 29, 2011                                                     

CONTACT: Nickolay Bochilo 336.232.1900                                                                                          

Bell Partners Buys Nashville, Dallas Apartment Properties

Bell Partners Inc., headquartered in Greensboro, NC, recently purchased apartment communities in Dallas, TX and Nashville, TN for a combined price of approximately $79 million, continuing an expansion of the company’s multifamily portfolio.

 Bell Partners now owns or operates 220 apartment properties, located generally in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest.  With the addition of the 660 units in the newly acquired Nashville and Dallas properties, Bell's portfolio includes 63,132 apartments.

 "We’re excited about the positive fundamentals in the multi-family sector and pleased to have made these purchases on behalf of Bell Fund IV", said Jon Bell, Bell Partners president.

"The recently announced $300+ million sale of almost all of our senior living properties (23 assets) was a key step as we focus on our position as one of the country’s leading apartment ownership and management companies", Bell continued, noting that his company is ranked among the top 10 largest apartment operators in the nation, according to the National Multi-Housing Council.

The Ansley at Park Central Apartments in Dallas is a 490-unit luxury property offering garden, midrise and townhome apartments in conjunction with 14,500 square feet of retail space.  Now 96 percent occupied and constructed in 2000, it will be managed by Bell Partners and renamed Bell Park Central as part of the company's branding strategy.  The property was purchased for $51.5 million.

Bell Fund IV also purchased 1700 Midtown Apartments in Nashville for $27.4 million.  The 170-unit luxury apartment community offers one and two-bedroom homes.  Built in 2010 and located in the West End growth corridor of the city, the property will be managed by Bell Partners and will be renamed Bell Midtown.  

These recent acquisitions are the first purchases for Bell Fund IV.

Nickolay Bochilo, Bell's vice president of investments, commented, "We are thrilled to have made these two investments in Nashville and Dallas. Due to strong supply and demand fundamentals, coupled with high quality product and location attributes, we expect to generate attractive current returns and long-term appreciation."