Atlanta-based Songy-Highroads, which is owned by Louisiana-born developer David Songy, has acquired 136 units in Jefferson Place Condominiums at 7975 N. Jefferson Place Circle from local developers John Fetzer and Hardy Swyers. While documents filed today with the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court record the sale price as $10, the full financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed.
In 2007, Fetzer and Swyers paid $26.5 million for the 234-unit development, which at the time was an apartment complex. They converted the high-end units to condominiums and renovated the complex, which was originally built in the mid-1980s.
But the condo market bottomed out in 2009, as many lenders stopped financing condo sales following the Great Recession, and selling the units became difficult.
“It had nothing to do with Baton Rouge or Jefferson Place,” Fetzer says of the sale. “Our condo properties were in great shape.”
During their years of ownership, Fetzer and Swyers sold a total of 98 units, which remain privately owned. They have continued to market the units for sale as condos while also leasing them as apartments. The two- and three-bedroom units range in size from around 1,200 to 1,700 square feet, and are 98% leased.
Fetzer says Songy plans to continue marketing the units for sale, while also operating the development as an apartment complex.
“It’s pretty much going to be business as usual,” Fetzer says. “It’s just a change of management.”
Songy could not be reached today for comment, but he is no stranger to the Baton Rouge real estate market. In 2013, his firm acquired a portfolio of six local office building and one in New Orleans for $52.7 million, most of which it still owns.
—Stephanie Riegel
