Crescent Resources names former Crosland exec as president and CEO

Crescent Resources’ has appointed Todd Mansfield as president and chief executive officer, the company said Thursday.

Crescent Resources' board of managers also named Dan Van Epp as its non-executive chairman. Van Epp is executive vice president of Newland Real Estate Group, LLC and president of The Van Epp Companies, LLC. He has served Crescent as a director since early 2011.

“Crescent is extremely fortunate to have Todd take the helm,” Van Epp said in a statement. “He is a visionary leader with the depth and breadth of real estate expertise to shape our future growth. Plus, he already has an extensive knowledge of the organization.”

“Crescent has solid positions in important real estate sectors and desirable markets, as well as access to capital," Mansfield said in a statement. "We have great opportunities before us to create value in real estate, and I am fortunate to work closely with this team of exceptionally talented individuals.”

The announcement comes less than four months after Mansfield joined Denver-based Bio-Logical Capital, a land-investment, development and conservation company, as president. Mansfield will transition to membership on its board of directors, according to a statement released by Crescent Resources.

Previously, Mansfield served as chairman and chief executive officer of developer Crosland, a position he left in September 2010.

He also served as executive vice president of Disney Development Co., where he led the team that initiated development of the 5,000-acre Town of Celebration.

Charlotte-based Crescent Resources LLC is a real estate development and land management company that was formerly owned by Duke Energy. Crescent is known across the Southeast for building upscale lakefront communities, shopping centers, multifamily housing and industrial parks.

The company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2010.

Economist praises investors interested in N.C. apartment buildings

A report released this week by research firm Costar Group highlights a growing trend that local real estate companies are already tapping.

Apartment complexes have attracted a lot of attention lately thanks to promising demographics and available financing. While financing for office and retail buildings has largely dried up, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still loaning money to investors and developers interested in multifamily buildings.

Titled "The Coming Rental House Wave," Costar's report talks about how the apartment market has become one of the real estate industry's - and the overall economy's - "best hopes for a return for the good old days, with robust property values attracting keen investor interest."

And Costar senior real estate economist Erica Champion applauds those interested in the Tar Heel state.

"Investors and developers that have been in love with North Carolina and Oregon can congratulate themselves for jumping on the right bandwagon," she wrote in the report.

Nationally, renters now make up more than 40 million households - or one-third of U.S. households, according to Costar and Freddie Mac.

During recent boom times, U.S. home ownership hit 69 percent. That's since fallen to 66 percent. Each 1 percent drop equates to one million new renters entering the market.

Locally, developers and investors have been active.

Last year, two new Charlotte apartment properties sold for premiums.

And a growing number of developers have found new footing developing, buying or managing multifamily properties.

Northwood Ravin LLC, for example, was formed last month by Ravin Partners and Northwood Investors to focus on multifamily properties in the Southeast. Ravin Partners was created by David Ravin, former multifamily president at Crosland, who bought Crosland's residential development and construction department earlier this year.

Northwood Ravin, which has 95 employees, is building a 200-unit complex in Richmond, Va., a 134-unit project in Raleigh and a 345-unit complex in Atlanta.

And in September, Charlotte-based developer Pappas Properties announced its plans to build multifamily housing in new markets in the Southeast.