Investors bought three older Wilmington apartment communities, a total of 529 units, recently for $39.5 million.

Heritage Capital Group, a real estate investment firm based in New Jersey, purchased Osprey Landing, Hanover Landing and 34 North Apartments from Starwood Capital Group at the end of September.

"We like to identify areas that have a lot of potential growth, and we thought Wilmington has a lot of potential," said Jeffrey Greenberg, a principal with Heritage Capital Group.

The sale comes two years after Starwood bought the properties, part of a larger portfolio buy of thousands of units from Berkshire Property Advisors, for a little more than $38 million, according to a 2014 Multifamily Realty Advisors report. 

Greenberg said Hawthorne Residential Partners now manages the apartments, where rents are at market rate. He said his company plans to invest in capital upgrades, including updated interiors, which could lead to a rent increase, depending on what the Wilmington market will bear.

At 603 Plum Nearly Lane, 34 North Apartments (formerly Wimbledon Chase) was built in 1972; Hanover Landing (formerly Berkshire at Pecan Grove) at 3439 Wilshire Blvd. in 1968; and Osprey Landing at 800 Walden Drive in 1974, according to the Multifamily Realty Advisors report. 

"There’s a lot of new construction in the market that I think is very expensive and we’re going to be able to offer a real value proposition for residents of Wilmington to have upgraded units at a lower price point than new construction," Greenberg said.

While Heritage Capital Group has apartment investments elsewhere in North Carolina, the three-community portfolio is its first Wilmington purchase, Greenberg said. 

More than 4,000 apartments are either under construction or in the works in the Wilmington area, where the average rent for a 1- to 5-year-old apartment is more than $1,400.