Mike McClain of the Tucson office of Marcus & Millichap represented buyer and seller in the deal. McClain tells GlobeSt.com that he sold the property to Miguel Podolsky of La Selva Beach, CA about 15 months ago. McClain says Podolsky continually received offers for the complex. The right offer just came along and Podolsky and his wife agreed to sell, says McClain.

McClain says the class B, 19-year-old complex is the epitome of a well-maintained property. "It was attractive with great curb appeal," he says. And, he adds, the 92%-occupied complex has a lot of frontage on a heavily traveled road.

Villa Del Sol sits in an area historically dominated by military personnel, but only a few of the tenants are part of the armed forces. That, McClain says, validates just how diversified Tucson's economy has become.

According to Marcus & Millichap's research, Tucson has not experienced the same rapid growth as other southwestern cities. Consequently, Tucson has been sheltered from negative economic conditions prevalent in other southwestern apartment markets. In essence, Tucson has maintaining its supply and demand equilibrium.

The research predicts vacancy will increase just 0.3% to 7.9% from 2001 as a small number of units come on line. The rate will be short lived since employment growth is predicted to rise and subsequently absorb some vacancy.