By Andy Peters

EnviroSpark To Add EV Charging Stations from Maryland to Georgia. EnviroSpark is set to install electric vehicle charging stations at Abberly Pointe, an apartment complex in Beaufort, South Carolina, owned by HH Hunt. (CoStar)

Multifamily developer HH Hunt is partnering with a maker of electric vehicle charging equipment to install and upgrade charging stations at 38 apartment properties in the Southeast.

EnviroSpark will install charging stations at 24 of HH Hunt's existing apartment buildings in Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.  

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. EnviroSpark will begin installations in February and install its Level 2 charging equipment, the second-fastest type of EV chargers, according to a spokesperson for EnviroSpark.

EnviroSpark will also install the equipment at three HH Hunt properties under construction and upgrade existing charging stations that are outdated or nonfunctional at 11 of HH Hunt's properties, according to the statement. EnviroSpark will take over maintenance for all stations, including some equipment made by different companies. HH Hunt had "subpar experiences with other EV charging providers," EnviroSpark said.

Owners and landlords of retail, office, hospitality, and multifamily properties are looking to install charging stations to meet a projected increase of people who drive electric vehicles. Apartment dwellers have told HH Hunt executives they want more EV chargers in their buildings. “Listening to the needs of our current and potential residents, it's clear that accessible and reliable charging at home is a priority,” Lance Goss, senior vice president at HH Hunt, said in the statement.

New Tech

Some commercial property owners aren’t familiar with the technology, such as the types of EV equipment that’s available and how and where on a property they should be installed, said Jeff Patterson, president of Phoenix Parking Solutions.

“This is new technology, and most property owners don’t know where to start,” Patterson said in a news release. Phoenix Parking Solutions is not involved in the HH Hunt-EnviroSpark deal. “However, EV infrastructure is something everyone should investigate from an investment standpoint.”

More money is on the way to assist property owners with adding more EV charging stations. The Biden administration this month awarded $623 million in grants for EV installations in 22 states and Puerto Rico. The U.S. Department of Transportation is separately providing $7.5 billion to states to help expand EV charging stations.

Multifamily developers nationwide are building new properties that include electric vehicle charging stations. Quarterra recently opened Kindred Apartment Homes in Denver, a 224-unit property that includes more than a dozen EV chargers.

EnviroSpark, based in Atlanta, designs, installs, and operates electric vehicle chargers. The company operates 7,400 EV charging stations in the United States. It has provided EV charging services to several multifamily developers, including Cortland, RangeWater Real Estate and Wood Partners.

Some of the largest markets where EnviroSpark will install chargers for HH Hunt include Atlanta; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina; Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville in South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Fredericksburg and Richmond in Virginia. Residents of these HH Hunt properties will pay to use the chargers on a kilowatt-basis, meaning they will pay for how much power they use.