HOUSTON-The Drever Opportunity Fund II, sponsored by Concierge Asset Management in Tiburon, CA and Omaha-based Magnum Opportunity Fund, has acquired five class B and C foreclosed apartment complexes in Texas for $29.2 million from GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. Plans call for an additional $1.8 million in renovations for the 1,038-unit portfolio, the bulk of which is in Houston.

The Greater Houston assets are the 160-unit Parkside Apartments at 8455 Will Clayton Pkwy. and 260-unit Meadowbrook Apartments at 515 S. Bender Ave., both in Humble, and the 144-unit Ashwood Park at 3520 Burke Rd. in Pasadena. In Dallas/Fort Worth, Drever bought the 256-unit Ashton Park at 2403 W. Pioneer Pkwy. in Grand Prairie and 218-unit Regional Place Apartments at 3037 Mustang Dr. in Grapevine. Greystar Management Co. of Dallas will oversee the assets, which range from 77% to 87% occupancy.

According to Myra Rega, Concierge's vice president of asset management, improvements to the properties will include interior upgrades, landscaping renovations, deferred maintenance and new signs. "They'll also be doing some heavy outside marketing to area businesses," she says. "There'll be new ads in the apartment guides, resident referral programs and we'll market heavily to locators and real estate agents." Renovations, she adds, have already started and should be completed in the first quarter. Regional Place Apartments were built in 1976 and the other complexes in 1984.

"We felt like there is a great deal of opportunity today in buying distressed properties," says Joe D. Gillespie Jr., Concierge's director of acquisitions. He tells GlobeSt.com that the portfolio purchase is somewhat of a shift in Concierge's goals. "In the beginning, we were going into markets, buying A-minus and B-plus stuff we thought was overleveraged and trying to relieve some of the owners who might have been gasping for air operationally," he says. It was determined, however, that there might be more possibilities in purchasing distressed properties. "We're willing to go anywhere in the US and really expand our asset class to B-minus, in blue-collar locations or better," he adds.