Lynch Investments LLC bought the Pointe Apartments at 4165Dowlen Rd. in Beaumont from Weston Apt. Homes Inc., a local customhomebuilder who spent three years developing the 14-buildingcomplex. The 14.3-acre project, finished earlier this year, was 99%leased at sale time.

"I could have had 20 offers, but the San Francisco buyer flewout and looked at it right away," Gregory Keith, an investmentspecialist in Marcus & Millichap's Austin office, tellsGlobeSt.com. "This is the first verifiable apartment sale in theBeaumont area that was over $60,000 per unit."

Keith says the hurdle to jump was finding a buyer who saw theopportunity rather than viewing the listing as a smaller propertyin a city nearly 90 miles from the Houston line. "It's not 300units and it's not in Houston or Dallas, but it's a fantasticdeal," he says. "They did a good job of buying it and they lookedat it as an opportunity." Not only is it the only multifamilyproduct near Parkdale Mall, but it neighbors a Wal-Mart, Barnes& Noble and a string of restaurants. The buyer, who ownsmultifamily assets in Houston, secured a Freddie Mac loan throughJeff Knowles in Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP's Houston office tomake the close.