Roommates can either be a blessing or a curse. Between their inviting company or their annoying habits, it’s the money that makes it worth putting up with strangers eating your food, drinking your beer or “borrowing” your clothes for dates.   

While it may have been furthest from his mind at the time 10 years ago, Adam Sosne, then a college student at University of North Carolina Wilmington, was on to something when he began renting out rooms in his townhouse.

“Even then, finding off-campus housing was a challenge,” Sosne said of Wilmington’s off-campus student housing choices. “So I rented out
my place.”

While Sosne, now a regional power developer, doesn’t have any roommates. What he learned as a small-time landlord would help him become one of Wilmington’s leading off-campus student housing builders. 

“In Wilmington, you do have to stick your neck out first before other people start to come on board,” Sosne said. “But I didn’t have a problem doing that, because I knew that there was a huge demand for student housing in the market … it was going to be successful.”

Sosne, 35, has always had a knack for adventure and taking risks.
As the son of educators, Sosne was taught at a young age to follow his passions – a philosophy and message he continues to follow to this day.

“I was given full range to follow my dreams,” Sosne said. “It took some time to get there, but I’m still learning and growing … you never settle in this job.”

At age 20, he flew planes for US Airways Express. And at age 21, he began flying private jets – a job he would retain through college by flying a local family to destinations all over the country.

It was also where he began to get the bug for business.

With the encouragement and help of some investors he met during that time, Sosne in 2003 opened The Dirty Martini in Lumina Station.

While slinging cocktails at the bar, Sosne was already planning for his next venture: real estate.

In 2006, he sold The Dirty Martini and decided to get his master’s degree in business administration at the UNCW Cameron School of Business, where he graduated in 2012. He also began planning the development of Kerr Crossing – an apartment community now nestled at the corner of Kerr Avenue and Randall Parkway.

Just as he was about to cash in on the area’s booming real estate market, things nosedived as the Great Recession began to tighten its grip on the region.
“Originally, Kerr Crossing was going to be a condo development marketed to parents and students,” Sosne said. “But at the time, getting a loan to purchase a condo was impossible.”

Already housing roommates in his residence, and recognizing a niche for a new form of housing that was undersupplied, Sosne decided to turn the development into apartments.

He delivered Kerr Crossing in 2008 with a high occupancy rate, allowing Sosne to secure a loan with Memphis, Tenn.-based First Tennessee Bank to begin Wilshire Landing I – another student-focused apartment community where all 48 units were pre-leased before the development was constructed in 2010.

“It was basically Kerr Crossing to the next level,” he said. “We were fortunate that First Tennessee Bank stepped up and backed our project.”

As UNCW’s enrollment continued to blossom, Sosne’s student-centered housing projects were in high demand.

Eventually, his firm would expand Wilshire Landing by another 48 units in 2011. Sosne then constructed Camden Forest – a 104-unit, student-centered, multi-family development on 11.5 acres at 206 Cedar Branch Lane that opened last summer to full occupancy.

Sosne sold both Wilshire Landing and Camden Forest to Raleigh-based Preiss Company in December for $29 million.

Sosne formed three Wilmington-based firms that have helped him grow his portfolio across the region: MFH Construction, which specializes in multi-family development; Collegiate Property Management, which manages his apartment developments; and McAdams Homes, which focuses on new single-family home development.

He also in 2012 started an equity division that includes investors as far west as Dallas to help offset development costs. 

Sosne said much of his early real estate success can be tracked to researching the market and knowing how to fill the void.

“It was all about understanding the market and doing our research on the area and what students wanted,” Sosne said. “Students want large bedrooms. They want large closets, and they want nice amenities … I obsess with trying to improve our product.”

McAdams Homes’ single-family division has also maintained healthy strides.

In 2013, the firm sold 22 homes in various communities across New Hanover County, Sosne said.

In 2014, McAdams Homes is on track to construct more than 30 new homes.

“We’re still developing our own lots because we’re doing smaller developments,” he said.

Sosne said not growing too fast has been paramount to his business. He added that taking advantage of good deals have been instrumental in allowing him to preserve capital for project enhancements throughout his developments.

“We look at everything,” Sosne said. “I go through a number of proposals that I know are not worth it, but out of that pile, there are some that are worth a look.”

As the region’s student-center apartment communities begin to mount, Sosne’s firm is retooling its apartment development to focus on regular market units that cater to working families and professionals, he said.

“These are units that are in demand,” Sosne said. “The area has not seen new apartment development in over six years, and we’re simply responding to that pent-up demand.”

As for the region’s recent boon in multi-family units, the market is in a good place to absorb the units – for now, Sosne said.

“I think there is plenty of demand for what’s under construction,” he said. “But maybe three to four years from now, depending on market conditions, we may see some of these projects scaled back … but I don’t think we’re in danger of overbuilding.”

Sosne said despite his recent successes, he is still learning to perfect his business model and find new ventures for future growth.

“Failure is a part of growth,” he said. “They all don’t have to be home runs; singles and doubles are good, but I don’t ever want to strike out.”