AmeriSouth's president Ruel Hamilton tells GlobeSt.com that the complex, positioned at 3500 E. Overton Rd. on about 29 acres, represents one of the few remaining large multifamily holdings of its age in Dallas. Hamilton's turnaround play is being well received by Oak Cliff homeowners associations and the city. "We hope by doing this property, we can make it an emerging neighborhood...and anchor for the area," Hamilton says. And that also means a name change, but the new moniker has yet to be decided.

Through the years, some of Village Oaks' buildings have burned, with concrete pad sites still visible. The plan is to break them up, haul off the pieces and turn the areas into green space, Hamilton says.

The attraction to buy the deteriorated complex was the opportunity to get a complex of its age and size in a close-in neighborhood. Village Oaks, built in 1969, was 90% occupied at sale time. The average unit size is 830 sf and the average rent, $550, which means there's definitely room to grow when the top-to-bottom, inside and out rehab is done. Meridian Commercial LP's crews will be spending the next nine months on the renovation, according to Hamilton.

Jeff Ratliff of AmeriSouth Real Estate Services Inc. in Dallas was Hamilton's in-house representative for the transaction. Brian O'Boyle of Dallas' O'Boyle Properties represented the seller, a Houston-based real estate investor. According to the Dallas Central Appraisal District, Metro JV of 1160 Dairy Ashford St. was the owner of the property, which carries a $2.8-million assessment for 2002. John Brownlee of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP in Dallas arranged a two-year interim loan for 85% of the acquisition and renovation costs through Comerica Bank, Hamilton confides.