Green Brick Partners, Inc. (GRBK)

[Enterprising Investor]

Public company bets $75 million on metro Atlanta housing market (4/06/16)

By Phil W. Hudson

A Plano, Texas-based residential land development and homebuilding company plans to build 153 single family homes and townhomes with a build out value of about $75 million in Alpharetta and Suwanee, Ga.

Green Brick Partners Inc. (NASDAQ: GRBK) reported it bought 10.4 acres at Academy Street in downtown Alpharetta for the construction of a mix of 83 single-family and townhome units. Pricing for the single-family homes is expected to be from the $590,000s while pricing for townhomes is expected to be from the $450,000s.

In a separate transaction, Green Brick bought 6.4 acres for the construction of 70 townhomes with pricing expected from the $260,000s. The community is in western Gwinnett County on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard between Sugarloaf Parkway and McGinnis Ferry Road.

The homes at both locations will be constructed and offered for sale by The Providence Group of Georgia, a subsidiary of Green Brick.

Green Brick CEO James R. Brickman said his company will provide development and construction funding for The Providence Group.

Mark Spain, CEO of Mark Spain Real Estate, said With the Alpharetta City Center being developed, and one of it's borders being Academy Street, the area is primed for residential development.

"With the demand for new urban living and people wanting to be near downtown shopping and walking districts, this area will be a home run for residential development," he said.

Spain noted Suwanee Station continues to be a prime location for residential development as the demand for housing in the area remains strong and inventory is extremely low.

"Suwanee is a hot real estate market thanks to the city's amazing and vibrant Town Center," he said.

Atlanta Business Chronicle sister publication Dallas Business Journals reported Nov. 6 Green Brick raised $169.8 million in net proceeds from a secondary offering in 2015, which enabled the company to repay a $150 million loan and provide significant capital to help the firm’s controlled-interest builders grow.

Green Brick has a land development component called Green Brick Communities. It has about 5,000 home lots in various stages of development in Class A submarkets, with about half of those lots in Dallas-Fort Worth and half in Atlanta.

Green Brick — whose name is a play on billionaire investor and Green Brick Chairman David Einhorn’s hedge fund Greenlight Capital and Brickman’s last name — saw a 40 percent increase in construction year-over-year. Brickman said he expects that growth to continue through the rest of the year, particularly in the fourth quarter.

Brickman attributes Green Brick’s strong financials to hitting the ground at the right time in growing real estate markets in DFW and Atlanta and offering builders something they desperately need: money.

Home construction is slated to begin in December at Academy Street in Alpharetta and October at Suwanee Station.

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2016/04/06/public-company-bets-75-million-on-metro-atlanta.html