Don Ostroff and Will Balthrope, both vices presidents of the Dallas investment group, snagged the back-to-back coup with unrelated buyers for two of Mesquite's four new complexes built in 1999 and 2000. The final sales prices fell within 95% to 98% of the asking prices, Ostroff tells GlobeSt.com. The 295-unit Echelon at Mission Ranch carried a $21.3-million price tag and the 256-unit Enclave at Beltline, a $16.8-million asking price. The Echelon has gone to an East Coast private investment group while the Enclave is now in the portfolio of a West Coast investor. The properties are located within two blocks of each other near the LBJ Freeway and US Highway 80.

The Enclave, 98% occupied at sale time, changed hands in a 1031 tax-free exchange. It went on the market in late fall 2000 and has been under contract for six months. According to Ostroff, the closing was stymied because brokers were dealing with a HUD-insured assumption loan. A joint venture of Barrow-Health Investments of Longview, TX and Ricky Gillingwater of Dallas, is the seller of record.

The 95%-occupied Echelon, on the other hand, was never on the market. Ostroff says his past dealing with Echelon Residential, based in Tampa, led to that sales contract.