195-Unit Turnaround Plan Set Into Play

F&F Partners of Larkspur, CA paid cash for the Sheffield Village Apartments at 8300 Calmont Ave. to the Texas Escrow Co. of Toronto, Ontario, George Deuillet III, with the Dallas office for Phoenix-based Hendricks & Partners, confirmed to GlobeSt.com. He's not talking about the selling price or how close it came to the $3.5-million assessment for 2002 by the Tarrant Appraisal District to mark the fifth ownership change since 1986.

Developed in 1979, the property is going to get a facelift by a new owner with a reputation for its ability to turn around such assets. The complex, situated on 9.8 acres, was 85% leased at sale time. The average rent is 57 cents per sf, with the average apartment size being 779 sf.

The interstate-fronting property is a prime candidate for an overhaul and rent hike, particularly since M/PF Research Inc. in Carrollton says the region's average is $694 per month for older product. The upside, Deuillet acknowledges, definitely is in sure-to-follow rent hikes that will trail the "substantial" improvements set to begin in the coming weeks. He says the plan is to pump about $7,000 per unit into the rehab.

The class C complex attracted high interest from would-be buyers in the three months it was on the market, Deuillet says. The property was in escrow for four months before closing. "It's a solid location," he points out. "There is a lot of interest in well-located deals that need work. It's a class C-plus deal in a class B minus location." Deuillet and Thomas Emerson Burns, also with Hendricks & Partners, structured the sale.