THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996                 TAG: 9605180289
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: HAMPTON                            LENGTH: Short :   42 lines

LOCAL APARTMENT COMPLEXES SOLD TO NATIONAL COMPANY EIGHT OF THE 13 PROPERTIES SOLD ARE FROM THE AREA.

Great Atlantic Management Co., a closely held company in Hampton, has sold 13 apartment complexes to a national real estate management company for $84 million, officials said Friday.

Eight of the properties are located in Hampton Roads.

NHP Inc., the second-largest apartment manager in the nation, doesn't plan to keep them for long. The Washington, D.C.-based firm intends to sell the complexes, while retaining property management rights.

``NHP is primarily a property management company,'' said Joel Bonder, NHP's general counsel. ``Sometimes, we'll acquire properties and then go through the process of finding an affiliated company . . . or a third-party company that owns real estate to be the owner.''

The local properties are Windsor Crossing in Newport News; Parkway in Williamsburg; Villas in Portsmouth; Bayshore Gardens, Kingston Gardens and Ramblewood I and II in Norfolk; and Pembroke Courts and Woodshire in Virginia Beach.

``Generally they are not properties that would be called upscale,'' Bonder said. ``But they are good properties and have a range of rents that working people can afford.''

NHP also purchased a complex in Charlottesville, two in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., and one each in Hialeah and Orlando, Fla. The deal closed Thursday.

NHP went public in August 1995. It provides property management and other services for about 136,000 multi-family units.

It's not apparent why Great Atlantic decided to sell the properties. Edwin A. Joseph, company president and a Peninsula real estate developer, was out of town, an employee said. Other company officials would not comment.

Great Atlantic's board of directors includes Joseph; Aubrey L. Layne Jr., vice president and chief financial officer; and Joseph P. Byrne, secretary and director, according to the State Corporation Commission. by CNB