Braeside Group Sells Last Phoenix Apartment Holding

The Braeside Group turned over the 120-unit El Pueblo Apartments to 1031 Exchange buyer Michael Richardson of Honolulu in a $4.4-million transaction that gave the new owner a class C property in the city's prestigious Biltmore area. "They realized it's difficult for them to manage investment properties in Phoenix from Chicago and they wanted to re-deploy their money to investments in Chicago," Trammell Crow Co. vice president Brad Goff tells GlobeSt.com of the sell-off of the 802 E. Missouri Ave. complex.

Since October 2002, Braeside sold its two other apartment holdings, 104-unit Maryland Villa apartments, now known as Regency Park, and the 92-unit La Paz apartment community, both in Phoenix. The sales netted a total of $10.7 million.

Goff says Braeside selected its latest buyer from a pool of four investors whose offerings fell closest to the investment group's original $5-million asking price. He says Richardson's track record and his status as an exchange buyer, who was on the verge of selling a hotel property in Hawaii, made him the leader in a strong field of candidates.

For his investment dollars, Richardson picked up a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments with large floor plans that are 92% occupied and a prime location along Camelback Corridor in the city's upscale Biltmore area. "It's a property he intends to upgrade and reposition," Goff says. Richardson plans to invest about $2,000 per unit to paint and renovate the complex and rename it to Park Place.

Goff and Trammell Crow associate Bobby Bull represented the seller in the transaction. Richardson was represented by Steve Buckley of Colliers International.