SPECIAL FOCUS: AFT’s Top 50
Apartment Markets
APARTMENT FINANCE TODAY • OCTOBER 2007
NO. 7 • ABILENE: Big Dreams
in Big Country
The largest city in Texas’ Big Country territory holds
promise for apartment investors.
By Dana Enfinger
One long-time local
developer thinks
the key to understanding
development in
Abilene is to think of the
west Texas city as a smaller
version of Dallas/Fort
Worth.
“The railroad cuts this town right in
half,” said Kenneth L. Musgrave, a real
estate developer who’s been doing deals
in Abilene for 50 years. “The north side
is Fort Worth, where old money has
been an influence. The south side is
new money, like most of Dallas.”
The Abilene market ranked seventh
in our Top 50 Apartment Markets
analysis, thanks to low annual inventory
growth, a super-low vacancy rate,
and strong rent growth. It trounced the
other half-dozen Texas markets we
examined.
That’s not a big surprise to Tom
Niblo, vice president of commercial real
estate for locally based Senter Realtors.
“Retail development on the north
side has spurred a lot of talk for more
residential development around it,”
said Niblo. “There’s definitely a need
for more apartments, student housing
in particular. We’ve got a good, diversified
economy.”
What about Musgrave’s metaphor?
For starters, most of Abilene’s apartments
are focused in the south side
because that’s the site of most retail
development, as well as high-end single
family homes. Developers couldn’t get
their hands on northern property for
years because old Abilene families
weren’t parting with it. Eventually, several
families did sell.
Musgrave snapped up a lot of that
land quicker than you can get sunburned
through your car window in
Abilene. He’s built a Wal-Mart
Supercenter, a Home Depot, and other
retail stores and hotels. He said the
greatest opportunity for multifamily
developers in Abilene lies in “Fort
Worth.”
Adding to the prospects in the
region is the expansion of local universities.
Texas Tech University has built a
new pharmacy school. North Carolinabased
Campus Crest Development has
opened a $10 million student housing
development close to Abilene Christian
University. Abilene Regional Medical
Center is undergoing a $26 million
expansion and renovation, bringing
more jobs.
The first new construction of market-
rate apartments since the 1980s is
finally under way—more than 200
units, said Niblo. Apartments built since
the ’80s have been for low- and moderate-
income residents.
“Development here is as good as I’ve
seen in my life,” said Musgrave. Look
out, Dallas. There’s some real drama in
Abilene these days.
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