California Group Bags 200 Units for $8M

Santa Rosa, CA-based Rohnert Park City Center LP scooped up the Chandler Pointe Apartments at 3171 N. Price Rd. just as it hit the market, paying seller Briarwood Place Investors the full asking price to take over a mismanaged and under-performing complex, Danny Lee with Sperry Van Ness' Phoenix office tells GlobeSt.com. "We had a previous relationship with the seller and we had an investor waiting so we just matched them up," Lee says of the one-day turnaround for the Chandler complex.

The sale was the second in six months for the Denver-based investment group and ended its foray into Phoenix's multifamily market, according to Lee. In October, the group's principals, acting as Signet Partners of Denver, sold the 165-unit Desert Sunrise Apartments in Phoenix for $5.3 million to SRP Property Inc. of Los Angeles in a transaction that resulted in a loss of about $1 million for the sellers. The sales came as both Desert Sunrise and Chandler Pointe struggled with mismanagement decisions that left both complexes fighting to fill vacancies.

Chandler Pointe is comprised of 80 one-bedroom, 108 two-bedroom, eight three-bedroom and a quartet of four-bedroom units with rents from $550 to $1,075 per month. It was about 20% vacant at the time of closing. The property, developed in 1983, also featured a host of amenities, including a basketball court, tennis court, fitness center and spa. "It was a value-added property in a good location," Lee says of the complex located off US Highway 60 adjacent to Loop 101 and Elliott Road.

Representing the buyer in the transaction was Frank Senia of North Bay Commercial in California. Lee and Neil Sherman, also with Sperry Van Ness, handled the sale for Briarwood.