Autumn River Apartments, Raleigh, N.C.

TRECAP Partners LLC has acquired the majority interest in the Autumn River Apartments, a 284-unit complex in Raleigh, N.C., as part of a joint venture with Bell Partners. The purchase price was $27 million. TRECAP made the acquisition on behalf of an institutional investment fund.

Built on 20 acres in 2001, the 284-unit, class-A, garden-style complex features 13 three-story residences and a clubhouse with pool. The property is located in the North Raleigh submarket an eighth of a mile from I-540, near major employers, and within a 15-minute drive to the Research Triangle.

Residents can walk to two nearby grocery-anchored shopping centers, and the property is adjacent to the WakeMed Campus, which employs more than 550 health care workers. In December 2010, TRECAP acquired another Raleigh area apartment development, Stonehenge, for $38 million.

“We’re following the Raleigh market extremely closely and see a continuing rebound in multifamily occupancies and rents ahead of many other areas around the country,” stated Michael McNamara, managing director and head of acquisitions for Philadelphia-based TRECAP, in a press release.

“The market benefits from the city’s concentration of universities and cluster of high-tech businesses, which provide an excellent foundation for employment growth,” added McNamara.

In 2010, TRECAP completed nearly $250 million in apartment transactions and anticipates increasing its multifamily acquisitions from an active pipeline of potential deals in coming months, McNamara said.

Trecap provides real estate investment management and advisory services to pension funds, corporations, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, insurance companies, banks and high-net-worth money managers. The company had $3.6 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2010.

Bell Partners, based in Greensboro, is the nation’s 10th largest apartment management company nationally, operating more than 59,000 units throughout the Southeast and Southwest.