$3M Plus Takes 148 Units in Southwest Dallas

"It's a class C plus in a class C minus area...and an area that's improving," says Peter J. Hartnett of Hendricks & Partners' Dallas office. He tells GlobeSt.com that the 90%-leased complex was on the market three months, got a half dozen offers and sold to the top bidder, Accumen Capital LLC, for slightly more than $3.4 million. He says the seller "got the absolute highest price" for the submarket while the buyer got a fully renovated complex at 8328 Willoughby Blvd. near the intersection of Interstates 35E and 20 and close to land tagged for campus expansions by two universities. The seller is a Dallas partnership, Willoughby Park LP, which is letting go of the asset so a principal can retire, according to Hartnett.

The Willoughby Park Apartments consists of nine two-story, garden-style buildings on 8.5 acres plus a small tract for extra construction. Built in 1968, the complex's mix ranges from one-bedroom, one bath designs of 660 sf with a $375 per month rent to three-bedroom, two-bath units of 1,140 sf that bring in $620 monthly. Rent averages 58 cents per month.

Andy Gnazzo, asset vice president for Boston-based Berkshire Mortgage Finance Co. arranged new debt with Bear Stearns in New York City for a buyer looking all across Texas, Hartnett says. In late December 2003, Gnazzo arranged financing with New York City-headquartered Nomura Securities for the group's takeover of the Chapel Brook Apartments, 205 units at 9765 Webb Chapel Rd. in North Dallas. Hartnett, who brokered the transaction, says Accumen got the foreclosed holding for less than the note of nearly $4 million. Chapel Brook is a mix that ranges from 495 sf for an efficiency, with a $379 per month rent, to two-bedroom, two-bath apartments of 1,024 sf that go for $609 monthly.