DALLAS-A Denver-based investment group has come out on top of 13 offers for the 338-unit Jefferson at Kessler Park and 336-unit Founders Park, JPI-developed assets marketed for $65 million. The buyers are former principals inSimpson Housing LP.

The Jefferson takeover is the first acquisition in Dallas/Fort Worth for the new investment group, Grand Peaks Properties, according to Hendricks & Partners associate partners Tom Warren and Tom Burns, who marketed the JPI pair. At sale time, Kessler Park at 1409 N. Zang Blvd. was 94% leased and Founders Park at 1520 N. Beckley Ave. was 92% leased.

"It's below replacement cost and an irreplaceable location," Warren says about the double deal, which played out as one with acquisition financing from Lehman Bros. in New York City and some 1031 exchange funds from a Las Vegas sale of a multifamily property.

Burns says Kessler Park, developed in 2002, was about to go under contract last year by a JPI partner eyeing the acquisition, but the plan changed and it debuted in the spring with two-year-old Founders Park. "The reception was unbelievable," he says. "We had several institutional bidders, including some REITs." He says the deal went from contract to close in 75, sealed by a private buyer with plans for a long-term hold.

The pro forma cap rate is 7.41% whereas the existing cap, minus concessions, is 6% based on the properties' $65-million ask. Neither broker will say what the properties pulled at the closing table, but local sources insist it was nudging the ask.

The brokers say the deal's upside potential is tied to the $1.2-billion Trinity River Project, with nothing but a bridge separating the 30-acre footprint from the Downtown. And, they add, it's a market-rate play although there is a 20% affordable component embedded into the developments--just a coincidence in light of the Simpson family's long-standing penchant and reputation in the affordable arena. The brokers say the new investment group has another property under contract in Dallas/Fort Worth, but there aren't any details coming out as yet.

The apartment complexes, which will be renamed in keeping with JPI transactions, total 29 buildings. The one-, two- and three-bedroom units average 890 sf; monthly rents average $1,006 or $1.14 per sf. The brokers say rents were a chief selling point since the average is running nearly 20 cents less than Uptown yet both are situated practically the same distance from Downtown.

Investors' interest in North Oak Cliff has spiked dramatically in the past year, with old and new multifamily product alike ringing up more at closing tables than previous years. Burns says the neighborhood's changing face caused a $1.8-million jump in Kessler Park's $33.5-million individual tag in the one-year lull between marketing periods. Founders Park was tagged at $31.5 million.

With so many buyers interested in North Oak Cliff, Burns and Hendricks colleague Jay Gunn are marketing what they claim is the largest redevelopment site in the corridor--27.6 acres holding three contiguous complexes with 443 apartments in a take one, two or all offering. WAK Management Inc. of Lewisville is seeking $17.5 million for the 287-unit Bahama Glen at 2450 Bahama Dr.; $8.5 million for the 104-unit Holiday Hills at 811 N. Plymouth Rd.; and $2.45 million for the 52-unit Holiday Hills II at 2405 Bahama Dr.