Round Hill Capital expands its US Residential Income and Growth Fund by acquiring a 205-unit apartment community in Cary, North Carolina

US / Europe, 12 August 2020 – Round Hill Capital, a leading global real estate investment, development and asset management firm, on behalf of the US Residential Income and Growth Fund (USRIG), has acquired Cortland Cary, formerly Trilogy Cary, a multifamily apartment community located in Cary, North Carolina.

Cortland Cary is the latest acquisition in an ongoing program of investment in the U.S. by Round Hill Capital on behalf of the discretionary USRIG Fund, which targets and delivers access to defensive, garden style U.S. multifamily investments in the Sunbelt region of the U.S. for European institutional investors. USRIG is targeting to grow a significant multifamily housing portfolio, focused on stable, attractive and defensive income-producing assets in areas that will benefit from long-term appreciation.

This acquisition represents a continuation of Round Hill Capital’s expansion into the U.S., which began in November 2018 with the acquisition of Cortland North Brookhaven in Atlanta, GA, which continues to perform strongly.

With a long-established international expertise in the multifamily sector, Round Hill Capital serves as investment manager of the USRIG Fund. The community and day-to-day operations of the fund’s communities continues to be managed by a preeminent U.S. operating partner and their first-class local management teams.

Rental housing and especially more affordable, well-located multifamily housing assets in lower density U.S. cities in the Sunbelt region have proved to be resilient throughout market cycles. The residential sector features as one of the most defensive real estate asset types despite the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, and the target region is expected to outperform in recovery from the wider economic impacts.

Cortland Cary was completed in 2019. The community comprises 205 moderately priced multifamily units and attractive amenities including co-working spaces, entertainment lounge, fitness centre, yoga studio, a pool, balconies and dog park.

Cortland Cary is exceptionally well positioned in the Raleigh-Durham market with easy access to extensive business, commercial, educational, medical and leisure/entertainment facilities and significant employment hubs, with excellent road, rail and airport connectivity.

Cary, North Carolina is centrally located between Raleigh and Durham, in the Research Triangle. The market benefits from a diverse and resilient economy, with high concentrations of technology, healthcare/medicine, education and research employment. The largest research park in the U.S., the Research Triangle Park, is located just north of Cortland Cary and is home to over 50,000 jobs and 200 companies. Furthermore, the nearby presence of large well-funded educational institutions such as Duke University, North Carolina State and the University of North Carolina provide a solid base of direct employment, related services, and a consistent flow of research funding from public and private sources. The area is expected to continue to benefit from the region’s high demographic and employment in-migration, just as families and individuals seek the higher quality of life often found in lower-density, more affordable amenitized communities. The suburban setting allows residents to live closer to local facilities and high growth employment hubs in the Sunbelt. This migration is continuing to be accelerated by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rob Reiskin, Senior Managing Director, Head of Americas said:
“Even before COVID-19, there was a growing trend of demographic and employment migration to high growth employment hubs in the South East U.S. This trend has been accelerating since the pandemic, and with the growth of working from home and increasing economic uncertainty, it looks set to continue. We expect that our Cortland Cary investment and USRIG Fund will remain beneficiaries of these trends and we will continue to make further investments in well-located, high quality U.S. multifamily housing assets with our European institutional investors.”

Michael Bickford, founder and CEO of Round Hill Capital, commented:
“We are pleased to offer our European investment partners the opportunity to invest with an experienced and responsible investment manager who is a leader in the U.S. and European accommodation sector with a deep understanding of residential markets, whilst partnering with an exceptional operator to help further drive value for residents and investors alike.”