Investors Eyeing Central Phoenix Multifamily Market

That's one reason why investors also lined up when seller JBL Investments of Phoenix put the four-building apartment community on the market for $1.7 million. "There was a lot of interest in this deal," Julie Vaughn with Sperry Van Ness in Phoenix tells GlobeSt.com of the master-metered complex at 1422 N. Fifth St. in Central Phoenix.

The property's central location at Fifth Street and McDowell Road, along with a historically high occupancy rate in the 90% range attracted a slew of prospective buyers, but it took an unidentified private investor from San Diego to close the deal with an offer that was just $500,000 less than the ask, says Vaughn, who along with Tracy Dennis, also with Sperry Van Ness, represented the seller in the transaction. The buyer was represented by Jon Olmstead of Rescom Investments in San Diego.

"Investors are continually looking for well-located multifamily communities that provide excellent return on investment," Vaughn notes. The 1967-built complex, with its positive cash flow from monthly rents of between $577 and $600, offered the buyer an opportunity to quickly capitalize on his investment, he adds.

But there are other factors at work that are drawing investors into the city's Downtown.Spurred by the development of a future biotech campus and buoyed by the promise of a light rail system in the central corridor, investors are showing renewed interest in the city's core, Vaughn says.

"There's a lot of demand for property in Downtown right now," Vaughn says, pointing to a strong revitalization effort in Central Phoenix, which includes an expanded Civic Center, as a drawing card for investors. "The thought pattern from investors is that the area will improve in terms of pricing and people will want to live Downtown." She says several multifamily deals in Central Phoenix are currently in the works as investors look to the city's future plans to bring both tenants and profits back to the Downtown multifamily market.