Alexan Tempe Sets Year-to-Date Sales Record of $32.5M

TEMPE, AZ-Atlanta-based Trammell Crow Residential has reaped $32.5 million for the 400-unit Alexan Tempe from a Dallas-based buyer specializing in university housing. The sale is the highest ticket to be paid this year in metro Phoenix.

Mark Forrester of Phoenix-based Hendricks & Partners made the score with the one-year-old development positioned at 2323 East Apache Blvd. Forrester represented the seller, Tempe I Holdings LP, an entity of Trammell Crow Residential. The buyer of record is FWC University Housing Co. LP.

Forrester tells GlobeSt.com that the holding attracted 10 serious offers, but most were not from student housing specialists like the buyer. The project is part of Trammell Crow Residential’s Alexan series, of which there are four others in the Phoenix MSA.

Forrester says the multifamily owner’s formula for Phoenix is to develop, stabilize and sell. The Alexan Tempe had an ill-timed entry to market, going up for sale on Labor Day 2001. The sale naturally was stalled due to the Sept. 11 attacks.

The 90%-occupied complex leases for about $1 per sf. Unit sizes range from 761 sf to 1,254 sf. Forrester estimates students make up less than half of the tenant base although its proximity to Arizona State University was a big draw for the buyer. The complex is located just minutes from the ASU campus and fronts a proposed light-rail stop that will run past the university. “Properties like this are difficult to find in Tempe,” says Forrester, who believes that the sale shows the metro’s apartment market is still alive. “Investors are still interested in the Phoenix apartment market.