GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Milestone Charts 23,000-Unit Repositioning

Milestone Management, the successor for Walden Management, will be led by Steve Lamberti, a 14-year Walden employee who rises to president and COO of the new group, which will be based in Dallas. He says the management change was part of the March 23 portfolio acquisition, but the impact largely was overlooked due to the magnitude of the real estate transaction. For previous story, click here.

Lamberti tells GlobeSt.com that property reviews will begin in 60 to 90 days to assess what stays, what goes, what needs fixed and which markets are the best bets for immediate repositioning. He estimates it will take until the third quarter for the work to begin. "We will be putting extensive capital into the portfolio's repositioning," he says, stressing renovations will be market and asset driven. Some complexes, he adds, will end up tagged for sale while scouts stay on the street in search of additional portfolios to buy.

According to Lamberti, the portfolio is 93% occupied. The properties average 20 years old, 280 units and monthly rents of $650 for the combined portfolio, made up of eight Milestone assets and 69 complexes with 21,560 apartments picked up from Olympus.In acquiring the portfolio, Milestone and JV partner, Dubai Investment Group, kept the 600-employee Walden Management team in place, Lamberti says. "There is no downsizing planned. Walden was a well-run organization," he says, "and we don't feel any need to right size it."

The newly formed Milestone Management also will undertake third-party assignments. The owned portfolio takes in properties in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Tampa, Phoenix and Nashville.

Lamberti, a 25-year professional, was part of Walden's executive team, helping to take the company public and build the portfolio to more than 25,000 units in 11 states and 22 major markets. Walden Management was formed in the early 1990s.