A Newmark Grubb Knight Frank investment sales team has been involved in the acquisition and disposition of two apartment complexes, one in Tulsa, Okla., and the other in Rancho Cordova, Calif., the latest in a series of recent transactions on behalf of a purchaser and a receiver.
The sold assets were marketed by Chris Hansen, a principal in Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Houston office, and John “Judd” Dunning, a director in the firm’s West Los Angeles office. The two work as a regional team focused on the Southwestern United States, within Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Capital Group.
Terra Vista Apartments, a 136-unit complex at 10055 Terra Loma Drive in Rancho Cordova, Calif., sold for $5.032 million or $37,000 per unit to The Chesser Group, a local investor represented by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank. Built in 1979, the property had most recently sold for $7.6 million in 2006 before the market peak. The complex was 88 percent occupied at the time of the most recent sale. The seller was JP Morgan Chase, which had acquired the property as REO.
“Once we clearly underwrote the property, our investor was able to see the superior upside potential of Terra Vista Apartments and he moved quickly with aggressive terms and timing,” Dunning said. “Tracking the asset, then getting a contract accepted and executed prior to a public listing was key, as the bank had multiple offers.”
In a separate transaction, the team closed a receivership sale of The Cove on Memorial Apartments, a 93-unit complex at 1246 S. Memorial Drive in Tulsa, to an undisclosed buyer following an extensive marketing program. The $1.232 million purchase price equates to $13,247 per unit, considered an above-market price for a property that suffered from significant deferred maintenance over the course of a two-year bankruptcy. The property was 65 percent occupied at the time of the sale.
California Bank and Trust, in conjunction with two receiverships in Texas and Oklahoma, hired Newmark Grubb Knight Frank to dispose of the complex and three other apartment properties in 2011.
Late last year, Hansen and Dunning sold another of the properties in the California Bank and Trust portfolio, the 286-unit Cherry Hill Apartments in Fort Worth, Texas. Zurich Holdings, a Utah-based private investment fund, acquired Cherry Hill Apartments for 2.15 million. The remaining two assets in the four-complex portfolio- the 128-unit The Landings Apartments in Tulsa and the 559-unit Kensington Manor Apartments in Memphis, Tenn.-are now being resolved via receivership sales and are in sale contract negotiations.
Dunning and Hansen work with market-rate sellers and buyers as well as banks, special servicers, attorneys and receivers seeking to dispose of distressed properties.
“By leveraging the expanding offices of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank nationwide, our team is positioned to provide strategic disposition and acquisition services throughout the United States,” Hansen said.
BGC Partners’ acquisition of Grubb & Ellis gives Newmark Grubb Knight Frank more than 100 offices in North America, 250 million square feet in property and facilities management, and a national appraisal business.
Some of the team’s recently closed transactions include the sale of a 220-unit multifamily complex in Murrieta, Calif., on behalf of LNR Partners, and the 212-unit multifamily complex in Moreno Valley, Calif., on behalf of a REIT.