The acquisition fell within days of AmeriSouth's purchase of 366 units in Dallas, the first buy to close this year for the multifamily repositioning pro as it scouts the market for another 2,000 units of value-add product for the portfolio. The Fort Worth holding piqued the buyer's interest because it has three- and four-bedroom units, a real perk for HUD players, Jeff Ratliff, executive vice president for AmeriSouth Real Estate Services Inc., tells GlobeSt.com.

John Brownlee of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP's Dallas headquarters office arranged financing for the 6 1/2-acre asset at 3625 Kearney Rd. Built in 1970s, the complex has an average rent of 74 cents per sf, a rate that's on its way up as the units turn and the work is done. Ratliff confides rent could end up at 85 cents per sf.

Meridian Commercial of Dallas will handle the makeover, which includes landscaping, parking lot repairs and AmeriSouth's typical interior upgrades in kitchens and baths to notch the property to a C-plus standard. North Hills Manor consists of eight one-bedroom apartments, 32 two-bedrooms, 44 three-bedrooms and 16 four bedrooms, with average size working out to 800 sf.

AmeriSouth, led by president Ruel M. Hamilton, acquired the complex from John Baker of Arlington, who has put a nine-property, class C portfolio on the market. North Hills Manor, which Baker owned for about six years, was the first to sell in the 800-unit offering, says Ratliff, who brokered the deal along with AmeriSouth's Brandon Rutledge.