UPDATE
August 22, 2025
New Acquisition
We are pleased to announce, after the post-covid lull in acquisition activities, that CEG is in contract to acquire a core-plus/capex light asset in NW Houston metro with close proximity to Foxconn/Apple's planned AI server manufacturing hub.
The property consists of 144 spacious and family-friendly 2-bedroom/2-bathroom units across 36 structures. At a cost basis of $20m, we believe it is a compelling efficiency optimization opportunity in one of the fastest-growing economic centers in the country.
Just a few miles northwest of Foxconn’s AI server manufacturing hub (in partnership with Apple) at Fairbanks Logistics Park in NW Houston, the property is uniquely situated to serve the supply-constrained submarket and its expanding economic base. Building on the strong historical occupancy of the property, we will drive NOI growth through optimized payroll management, dynamic pricing, addition of ancillary income streams, and select value-add actions.
With our current Houston portfolio demonstrating 95.8% occupancy and strong collection history, we are confident our property management arm will execute on the investment thesis.
Factoring in current market conditions and asset particularities, our model points to a 20.87% IRR and 1.71x MOIC over a 3 year expected project cycle.
We are excited and plan to close the deal by the end of 2025. Learn more about this project HERE.
Regards,
Team CEG
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Mr. James Yang
Chief Strategy Officer
FEBRUARY 22, 2021
TEXAS WINTER STORM
Texas is still dealing with the effects of winter storms that passed through last week. For some that means dealing with intermittent power and water disruptions, for others, damages of varying degrees and scopes.
Our residents, team members, and properties are doing fine as Houston thaws. Electricity and water have mostly been restored at all properties and our maintenance crews have been busy at work repairing leaky pipes and window cracks. All damages logged so far have been minor. Our team winterized all properties as much as possible before the storms landed.
We will continue to work through maintenance issues as they arise and provide updates when necessary.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
Regards,
CEG
JANUARY 17, 2021
2H 2020 PORTFOLIO STATUS UPDATE
Happy 2021. We hope everyone, particularly those experiencing Covid19 lockdown 2.0 now, is doing well and staying healthy and safe.
We had hoped by now the physical-distancing necessary to combat Covid19 would be behind us and we could host a members gathering in person to usher in the new year with everyone; however, we may just have to table that until Q3, 2021.
The multifamily landscape in Houston, in aggregate, during 2H 2020, was impacted by political, social, and public health issues we witnessed. As a result, absorption rate, occupancy rate, and effective rent all trended down with average occupancy rate sitting at 87.6% at the end of 2020. With government assistance programs in place, financial fundamentals remained mostly stable. Deal flows continued, but at a much slower pace.
Against this backdrop, we completed our acquisition of Cube Woodway Garden Apartment and started operating the complex at the beginning of Q4, 2020.
Properties under the management of CEG all experienced varying sets and degrees of challenges with most having to aggressively cull delinquencies while maintaining an acceptable level of occupancy in 2H and particularly Q4, 2020.
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Occupancy at La Serena closed out the year at 92%.
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Occupancy at Evergreen came in at 96%.
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Occupancy at Beacon Hill came in at 95%.
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Occupancy at Woodway Garden closed out the year at 91%.
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Occupancy at Royal North closed out the year at 92%
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Occupancy at Vista Del Ray came in at 93%
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Occupancy at Park on Eldridge came in at 92%
Looking forward, we expect to see further improvement of fundamentals and increased deal flow in the Houston metro area by the end of Q2, 2021. As a component of our growth strategy, CEG will also start sourcing deals in a few select Texas metro areas in 2021. We will provide further updates in the coming months.
Be healthy and stay safe.
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Mr. James Yang
Chief Strategy Officer
JULY 14, 2020
Q2 2020 PORTFOLIO STATUS UPDATE
We hope this communique finds you safe and well. The following are some updates on the overall multifamily landscape in Houston, our progress, and property stats.
During the initial weeks of COVID19 outbreak, we saw a spike in move-outs at some of our communities and an immediate drop in our overall collection in the neighborhood of 10%. This is highly correlated with the number of residents directly affected by the economic impact of Shelter in Place and government mandate of zero eviction and late fee policy. The worst scenario projection for the sector in general was a 20% to 30% topline reduction.
As we journeyed through Q2, we moderated collection and leveraged both public and private rental assistance programs. We transitioned our workplace to virtual offices to maintain quality of service and operational efficiency and stepped up our resident relations programs. Delinquency level, while higher than Q1, is now reigned in at acceptable level; this indicates milder than expected economic impact to our assets and the sector in general; we will continue to monitor the trend closely.
A number of our residents tested COVID19 positive and a few of our management staff members, as essential workers that risked exposure, had to be tested and isolated during the course of the past few months. We are fortunate to report that affected residents and staff members are all in good health now. As fluctuating levels of reopening iterate, we will continue to exercise best judgement and management practices to ensure the safety and well-being of our residents and staff.
Borrowing cost is now at its lowest since the 1970s as our Federal Reserve continues to implement rescue policies; we are looking into refinancing options where applicable to take advantage of the low rate environment. We will have specific communication on this when we have favorable and executable options.
Deals in the multifamily landscape in Houston is showing signs of revitalization after months of hiatus; we have been active in sourcing and underwriting deals the past few months and are excited to share that we are in contract on a class B+ townhome community in Houston's vibrant class A Galleria neighborhood. It will be a strong addition to our portfolio and we are glad to share details with those of you who are interested.
With move-outs and toplines at each property aggressively rebuilt to pre-COVID19 benchmark, our main areas of focus in Q3 and Q4 are to maintain topline/collection at current level and trim main buckets of expenses where applicable. In particular, property tax hike has become an area of intense scrutiny for us recently as Houston dials up its effort to replenish municipal coffers. Almost all of the properties in the portfolio have experienced extremely outsized increase in assessed value; we are contesting these increases through litigation. The process is less than ideal and lengthy; we will continue to drive for results.
Occupancy at La Serena sat at 90% at the end of Q2 and is expected to grow to 94% at the end of July. Dividend distribution has been allotted and should arrive in your mailbox before the end of the month. Please let us know if you wish to update your mailing address by 7/22/2020.
Occupancy at Evergreen closed out at 93% at the end of June and is expected to grow to 97% at the end of July. Dividend distribution has been allotted and should arrive in your mailbox before the end of the month. Please let us know if you wish to update your mailing address by 7/22/2020.
Occupancy at Beacon Hill was at 96% when we closed out June and is expected to increase slightly to 98% at the end of this month. Dividend distribution has been allotted and should arrive in your mailbox before the end of the month. Please let us know if you wish to update your mailing address by 7/22/2020.
Occupancy at Park on Eldrige sat at 97% at the end of Q2 and will slightly improve to 98% at the end of this month.
Occupancy at Royal North ended Q2 at 92% and is expected to improve to 94% at the end of July.
Occupancy at Vista Del Ray ended Q2 at 98% and is expected to maintain that level at the end of July.
Stay safe and stay healthy.
We hope this communique finds you safe and well. The following are some updates on the overall multifamily landscape in Houston, our progress, and property stats.
During the initial weeks of COVID19 outbreak, we saw a spike in move-outs at some of our communities and an immediate drop in our overall collection in the neighborhood of 10%. This is highly correlated with the number of residents directly affected by the economic impact of Shelter in Place and government mandate of zero eviction and late fee policy. The worst scenario projection for the sector in general was a 20% to 30% topline reduction.
As we journeyed through Q2, we moderated collection and leveraged both public and private rental assistance programs. We transitioned our workplace to virtual offices to maintain quality of service and operational efficiency and stepped up our resident relations programs. Delinquency level, while higher than Q1, is now reigned in at acceptable level; this indicates milder than expected economic impact to our assets and the sector in general; we will continue to monitor the trend closely.
A number of our residents tested COVID19 positive and a few of our management staff members, as essential workers that risked exposure, had to be tested and isolated during the course of the past few months. We are fortunate to report that affected residents and staff members are all in good health now. As fluctuating levels of reopening iterate, we will continue to exercise best judgement and management practices to ensure the safety and well-being of our residents and staff.
Borrowing cost is now at its lowest since the 1970s as our Federal Reserve continues to implement rescue policies; we are looking into refinancing options where applicable to take advantage of the low rate environment. We will have specific communication on this when we have favorable and executable options.
Deals in the multifamily landscape in Houston is showing signs of revitalization after months of hiatus; we have been active in sourcing and underwriting deals the past few months and are excited to share that we are in contract on a class B+ townhome community in Houston's vibrant class A Galleria neighborhood. It will be a strong addition to our portfolio and we are glad to share details with those of you who are interested.
With move-outs and toplines at each property aggressively rebuilt to pre-COVID19 benchmark, our main areas of focus in Q3 and Q4 are to maintain topline/collection at current level and trim main buckets of expenses where applicable. In particular, property tax hike has become an area of intense scrutiny for us recently as Houston dials up its effort to replenish municipal coffers. Almost all of the properties in the portfolio have experienced extremely outsized increase in assessed value; we are contesting these increases through litigation. The process is less than ideal and lengthy; we will continue to drive for results.
Occupancy at La Serena sat at 90% at the end of Q2 and is expected to grow to 94% at the end of July. Dividend distribution has been allotted and should arrive in your mailbox before the end of the month. Please let us know if you wish to update your mailing address by 7/22/2020.
Occupancy at Evergreen closed out at 93% at the end of June and is expected to grow to 97% at the end of July. Dividend distribution has been allotted and should arrive in your mailbox before the end of the month. Please let us know if you wish to update your mailing address by 7/22/2020.
Occupancy at Beacon Hill was at 96% when we closed out June and is expected to increase slightly to 98% at the end of this month. Dividend distribution has been allotted and should arrive in your mailbox before the end of the month. Please let us know if you wish to update your mailing address by 7/22/2020.
Occupancy at Park on Eldrige sat at 97% at the end of Q2 and will slightly improve to 98% at the end of this month.
Occupancy at Royal North ended Q2 at 92% and is expected to improve to 94% at the end of July.
Occupancy at Vista Del Ray ended Q2 at 98% and is expected to maintain that level at the end of July.
Stay safe and stay healthy.
APRIL 15, 2020
Q1 2020 PORTFOLIO STATUS UPDATE
What a year 2020 has been so far! All of us here at CEG wish you and your loved ones are staying healthy and active while limiting contact and exposure outside of your core herd or cluster during this trying time. Here is a quick update on the general landscape as well as our initiatives that span over all properties, followed by some asset specific stats.
Apartment services and maintenance is deemed an essential service while shelter-in-place or stay-at-home orders are in effect; as such we continue offering services and support to our residents. We have implemented hygiene and public health safety practices across all properties in accordance to CDC guidance to ensure resident and workforce safety. Prior to COVID19 outbreak, we successfully moved a number of management and leasing functions online across all properties; the platform not only offers efficiency gain but also allows our teams on the ground the needed physical-distancing while carrying out management functions.
While we had our strongest quarter in Q1, 2020, 10% to 20% of our residents have now indicated being financially affected by COVID19; this impact manifests itself in slower and/or decline in collections across all properties. With federal and state mandates prohibiting eviction during this crisis, our priority is to offer assistance to residents who are truly in need and deter those that might take advantage of the situation. We have instituted programs to incent residents to prioritize their rent payments and guide residents in obtaining government assistance. We have initiated dialogues with lenders on forbearance programs in the event of a prolonged crisis environment. We have also been following government assistance programs closely and applied to those that are pertinent. The situation is fluid and the deployment of government assistance packages far from seamless; we will continue to track the progress of these applications and push forward.
Occupancy at La Serena grew to 91.5% by the end of Q1, 2020 and is now at 93% as we get into the last week of April. However, collection is down 11% compared to that of March.
Occupancy at Evergreen increased to 92.5% by the end of Q1, 2020 and is maintained at that level. Collection is down 9.7% compared to collection in March.
Occupancy at Beacon Hill grew to 96% by the end of Q1, 2020 but dropped to 91% as we get into the last week of April. Collection is down 5% v.s. collection in March.
Our focus in Q2 is to maintain occupancy, strengthen collection, and optimize expenses so we can emerge from this crisis in a relatively strong or healthy position.
Stay healthy and we will reach out with further updates soon.
JANUARY 18, 2020
2H 2019 PORTFOLIO STATUS UPDATE
Happy 2020! 2019 seemed to have gone by in the blink of an eye. Quite a bit took place in the past 12 months; we vetted around 65 deals and were able to close on one of them. The new acquisition brings us to about 700 doors, or $43MM of asset, under management. We also added 4 staff members and an operations director to our property management team. We are excited about these additions and have been tweaking the system to optimize our operations.
The following is an update on key assets:
La Serena reached peak occupancy at the end of Q3 but dropped to 85% as we close out Q4, 2019. That being said, overall rental income has steadily climbed; the property on average collects over $120,000 of rent each month.
The property generated over $250,000 in net income in 2019 and we have been able to use the fund to pay off loans we took out to rehabilitate La Serena after Hurricane Harvey.
The main focus of the team in Q1, 2020 is to aggressively address tenant turn-over and institute loyalty programs to maintain occupancy rate above 90%. Property tax is another priority we are tackling. La Serena has appreciated substantially since acquisition and we now face a 33% increase in property tax. We have engaged legal counsel and expect to have a resolution by early 2021.
We are zeroing in on a few refinancing options to free up equity from La Serena and will decide on a course of action by Q3, 2020. We will use the proceeds to return some capital to members and reinvest the remainder in another multifamily asset.
Evergreen's occupancy peaked at the end of Q3 and hovered around 89% at the end of Q4, 2019.
We automated rent payment and adopted a number of online marketing platform to drive efficiency and traffic.
Increasing Evergreen's occupancy rate to the mid 90s and maintaining it in the range is a high priority for the team this quarter. We are also going to push for reassessment of property value and have the city reduce our property tax.
Beacon Hill is largely stabilized as we close out Q4, 2019. Occupancy rate reached 92% at the end of the quarter and will reach 95% by the end of January, 2020.
We improved tenant quality, reduced turn-overs, automated rent collection, and experimented with different on-line marketing platforms in Q4.
The focus of the team in Q1, 2020 is to maintain occupancy rate and continue to improve tenant quality and rent rate.
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Mr. James Yang
Chief Strategy Officer
OCTOBER 8, 2020
CUBE WOODWAY GARDEN TOWNHOMES ACQUISITION
Cube Equity Group successfully completed the acquisition of Woodway Garden Townhomes, an 80-unit townhome community in the heart of Houston, on October 8th, 2020.
The key action items we have mapped out for the next few weeks are to stabilize occupancy, spruce up curb appeal, shore up deferred maintenance, and deploy our management tools at Cube Woodway Garden.
Here is the current iteration of Woodway's web presence: https://www.woodwaygarden.com/home.
We are very pleased with this acquisition; with the addition of Woodway Garden, Cube Equity Group now owns and manages over 700 units in Houston. We are looking forward to the challenges ahead and thank our stakeholders for their continual support.
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Mr. James Yang
Chief Strategy Officer
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AUGUST 19, 2019
CUBE BEACON HILL APARTMENTS ACQUISITION
Cube Equity Group took over ownership and management of Beacon Hill Apartments, a 120-unit complex in southwest Houston, on Monday, August 19th, 2019.
Our main focus during this period of transition (remainder of Q3 into early Q4) is to stabilize the occupancy rate while we update the overall tenant profile. We will target minor capital improvement projects in Q4 this year.
The acquisition of Beacon Hill Apartments came shortly after our acquisition of Evergreen Apartments; the addition will allow us to scale up our management resources and bandwidth to better serve our portfolio communities.
OCTOBER 26, 2017
CUBE EVERGREEN APARTMENTS ACQUISITION
Cube Equity Group officially took ownership of Evergreen Apartments, an 106-unit apartment complex in southeast Houston, on October 26th, 2017.
The acquisition has been a long and circuitous journey; we couldn’t have done it without the support and patience of our stakeholders.
The search began in earnest in November, 2016 amid a supply lull, followed by the devastations of Hurricane Harvey. Despite these challenges, our broker partners, financing partners, and management team held together and pushed the deal through. We are grateful for the effort and dedication.
Looking forward, we have a few short term milestones and targets we would like to hit. Here is a quick summary:
October, 2017: Management move in and take over
December, 2017: Stabilization of tenant base and rental income
March, 2018: Submission of finalized architectural schematics and rendering to the two structures to be rebuilt
April, 2018: Completion of permitting and city planning approval; commence construction
October, 2018: Completion of construction
February, 2019: Lease-up of all new units
We are excited and look forward to the tasks ahead of us.
OCTOBER 18th, 2016
CUBE EQUITY GROUP, LLC ACQUIRES A RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX IN HOUSTON
Cube Equity Group, LLC is proud to announce, following an extensive search and the conclusion of a due diligence process, the acquisition of a 170-unit multifamily complex, Cube Park Hollow, in Houston, Texas. This $6.5 million acquisition, excluding transaction fees, is well-aligned with Cube Equity Group’s strategic agenda, risk-reward objective, and operational expertise.
Cube Equity Group plans to complete renovation and upgrade of Cube Park Hollow within the next 18 months. The scope of renovation includes interior upgrades, exterior refresh, common area beautification, and physical security improvements. The planned renovation will improve resident experience and ultimately optimize Cube Equity Group’s return on investment.
Cube Equity Group has extensive experience in the multifamily housing sector. This acquisition showcases its confidence in the asset class and the group’s ability to capitalize on growth drivers such as population, job, and household formation in targeted geographic markets.
About Cube Equity Group, LLC
Cube Equity Group, LLC is a private real estate investment group with a core focus on multifamily complexes. The financial objectives of Cube Equity Group, LLC are:
1.) to consistently grow distributable income from its assets
2.) to maximize value appreciation of its assets through dynamic property management.
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Mr. James Yang
Chief Strategy Officer