Donald J. Pierce II, Wesco's COO, tells GlobeSt.com that therearen't any complexes under contract, but the plan is to acquire aminimum of 1,000 additional apartments in Dallas/Fort Worth. Piercesays Austin will be next in line, perhaps in 2009. Wesco's sweetspot is 200 or more units in the $20 million, plus or minus, perdeal price range.

Torrance, CA-based Wesco is reinvesting gain from fourmultifamily property sales in SoCal "at what we consider to be verygood prices," Pierce says. "And we're taking our capital andredeploying it in Texas in a value-add strategy."

Its most recent acquisition was Jan. 20 with the purchase of the204-unit Amherst Apartment Homes at 1121 Amherst Dr. in Bedford.Wesco's buying spree began Oct. 31, 2006, with the purchase of the334-unit Hidden Ridge at 1290 Hidden Ridge Dr. in Irving. On Dec.27, 2006, it picked up the 273-unit Country Club Apartments at 1901Pinehurst Lane and its neighbor, the 244-unit Pinehurst PlaceApartments at 2101 Pinehurst Lane. Pierce says $5.5 million to $6million has gone into renovations, a mix of deferred maintenanceand upgrades inside and out, so the complexes can compete with1990s-era product in their respective submarkets. Amherst's workwill get underway soon.