The locally based Right Place took the deed to the 92%-leased complex 9616 Long Point Rd. for $3.2 million, closing the deal just weeks after it bought the 136-unit Carter's Grove Apartments at 3405 N. Shepherd Dr., also in Houston.

Right Place Properties will make upgrade the exteriors of MacArthur Park Apartments, according to Natan Jacobs, managing principal for Right Place's sister company Red Door Commercial. The seller is Quintanilla Investment of Houston.

Right Place's MO is to own complexes for a few years and convert them to condominiums. Jacobs says the plan is the same for MacArthur Park Apartments, a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units averaging 937 sf. Monthly rents hover 78 cents per sf.

Jacobs tells GlobeSt.com Right Place is on track to meet its yearend goal to acquire 2,000 units in Houston as it winds down a mass-acquisition strategy that was launched several years ago in Phoenix. "We have one more property in escrow in Phoenix, but it's a long escrow," he tells GlobeSt.com. "Nothing else is on tap there."

Jacobs says the company has turned toward Greater Houston and other Texas cities because Phoenix cap rates are lower and there's more competition in the market. Another reason for the shift is Right Place already owns about 3,500 units in the Phoenix metro so it wants to geographically diversify.

In addition to Houston, Right Place is putting out feelers in Dallas and San Antonio for potential investments. Unlike Houston, however, Right Place doesn't have specific investment goals in these other cities. "We're looking in those two cities, but nothing there yet," Jacobs says. "But if we find the opportunity, we'll make it work."