Located at 720 W. O'Neil Dr., the class A, garden-stylecommunity is the first acquisition the firm has made in CasaGrande, although it has been actively seeking opportunities inTucson and Phoenix markets, according to Omar Mireles, executivevice president of HSL Properties.

Mireles tells GlobeSt. that while Casa Grande is a tertiarymarket, HSL Properties believes it is an area that will experiencevery significant growth in the long term. Moreover, Desert SandsApartments currently is underperforming the market's averageoccupancy by more than 10 percent, reporting an occupancy rate of74 percent at purchase time despite its positioning as one of thetop two apartment communities in the market.

"We have a great opportunity to vastly improve the property'sperformance in a relatively quick timeframe," Mireles says. "Theproperty is a newly constructed, high-quality apartment communitythat we were able to acquire well below replacement value."