Amli Sells in Dallas Area, Buys in Austin

Jay B. Sparkes & Co. of Dallas went up against 20 other investors vying for the $16-million listing, Amli at Chase Oaks at 600 Legacy Dr. in Plano. In keeping with Amli purchases, the 18-year-old, class B complex has been renamed to Villas at Chase Oaks. The 95%-leased asset, assessed at $11 million by Collin County, is a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units in 20 buildings on 14 acres with frontage along Legacy Drive, a corporate-fed thoroughfare to 41,000 vehicles per day.

"The buyer wasn't necessarily the high bidder," Armand Charbonneau, vice president in Dallas for Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services, tells GlobeSt.com, "but they distinguished themselves with how quickly they could close." Charbonneau, teaming with vice president Mark Freeman, confides the Chicago-based Amli wanted the deal closed by Jan. 12--and that's just what Sparkes did. The sale went full circle in six weeks.

The Villas at Chase Oaks has units ranging from 670 sf to 1,290 sf. Rents run from $615 per month to $1,415. "It's a nice long-term investment," Freeman says. "It's a core property." And, the brokerage team concurs, the all-cash buy came without any need for a rehab by the hands-on owner, who has been a developer but not an active buyer until just recently.

The 264-unit Hills of Lantana, now dubbed Amli at Lantana Hills, was bought from Houston-based Finger Cos., which brought the 90%-leased asset to market through Matthew Rotan and David Oelfke with Apartment Realty Advisors in Houston. The brokers didn't return telephone calls by publication time for comment on the deal.

"It was an all-cash transaction," Amli senior vice president Mark Alfieri says, declining to discuss the selling price. "It was a bid process and we ended up getting it."

The gated complex, positioned at 7601 Rialto Dr. on 23.7 acres at the gateway to the famed Texas Hill Country, has 12 buildings with one- and two-bedroom apartments, ranging from 754 sf to 1,144 sf that rent for $895 to $1,225 per month. "It's just a great asset in a great location," Allan J. Sweet, Amli president, says. "And, we thought it was a fair price." The latest buy takes Amli's Austin holdings to 3,165 units, including the 344-unit Amli at Great Hills, which is poised to trade in the coming weeks.