A 334-unit apartment community just off Ocean Highway East in Leland has changed hands for approximately $57.7 million, according to public records, as an Indianapolis-based private equity firm makes its first move into the North Carolina coast. The buyer, BAM Capital, says the deal marks its entry into the Southeast real estate market after years of watching the region from afar.
The Marling at Town Creek sits on about 24 acres at 3100 Ascend Loop in Leland, roughly 12 miles west of Wilmington and about 12.5 miles from Wilmington International Airport. As reported by Multi-Housing News, D.R. Horton previously owned the property, which Yardi Matrix records show was originally developed under the name Ascend Brunswick Village. D.R. Horton built the community in 2024 with a mix of traditional multi-story apartment buildings and standalone rental cottages before management transitioned to Greystar, which now runs the property.
Ivan Barratt, founder and CEO of The BAM Companies, said in comments reported by the outlet that the firm has been evaluating opportunities in North Carolina for more than five years before pulling the trigger on this acquisition. BAM Capital made the purchase through its BAM Multifamily Growth Fund V, the same vehicle it used in October 2025 to buy Hayden Flats, a 298-unit complex in Bloomington, Indiana, sold by CRG Residential. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Indianapolis, BAM Capital operates as the private equity arm of The BAM Companies and has managed more than $1.85 billion in historic transaction volume with a workforce of over 200 employees, according to the company's own account of its business.
Why Brunswick County Caught an Out-of-State Buyer's Eye
BAM Capital's reasoning leans heavily on demographics. In a September announcement distributed via PR Newswire, the firm said it purchased The Marling at Town Creek at an estimated 17.4 percent discount to replacement cost, pointing to the Wilmington metropolitan area's 32 percent population growth since 2010 and proximity to roughly 129,000 regional jobs tied to employers including Novant Health and Amazon, as detailed in the release carried by PR Newswire.
The numbers back up the pitch. U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released in March 2026 ranked Brunswick County as the sixth fastest-growing county in the nation by percentage growth from July 2024 to July 2025, expanding 4.7 percent in a single year to reach 174,702 residents. That same Census data had already flagged Brunswick County as second nationwide in housing unit growth rate at 6.4 percent, a trend tracked in earlier figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Leland itself has grown even faster than the county around it. Official figures from the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management and the Census Bureau put Leland's population at 35,731 by July 2025, a 52.9 percent jump from its April 2020 population of 23,504.
Inside the Complex and What BAM Capital Is Selling Investors
The property offers one- to three-bedroom floorplans averaging 967 square feet, with every unit including in-unit laundry, stainless steel appliances and air conditioning. Shared amenities include a swimming pool with a ledge deck and poolside lounge seating, bark parks, a fitness center and a coworking space, along with the clubhouse work-from-home suites and café described in the PR Newswire release. Yardi Matrix data cited in that release put the complex's occupancy at 82 percent as of August.
That occupancy figure matters because how quickly a 334-unit property like this one fills up will depend on local absorption rates. BAM Capital is pitching the deal to accredited investors through Fund V, which targets a 15 percent to 20 percent net internal rate of return along with a 2.0x to 2.5x equity multiple, according to the fund's own disclosures.
A Busy Season for Wilmington-Area Apartment Deals
BAM Capital's purchase lands amid broader institutional trading activity in the Wilmington metro. Blackstone's multifamily subsidiary, LivCor, sold The Helmsman, a 262-unit apartment community in neighboring Wilmington, to Portsmouth Real Estate Partners for $71.9 million in September 2025, the same report from the Indianapolis-focused trade publication notes, offering a regional pricing benchmark for recent Class A multifamily sales in the area. That deal, along with BAM Capital's purchase of The Marling at Town Creek, points to steady demand from outside investors for apartment communities across the fast-growing Cape Fear region.
