Venterra Realty Finishes 416-Unit Acquisition

(Read more on the multifamily market.)

[IMGCAP(1)]PLANO, TX-Venterra Realty has closed on the second 208-unit multifamily asset in a portfolio sale by Francis Property Management of Beverly Hills, CA, which is bidding goodbye to the Dallas/Fort Worth market with the back-to-back deals. Market sources say the seller has reaped at least $30 million for the Collin County complexes.

Given the market and the times, occupancies are hovering 90% at the Reserve at Pebble Creek at 3800 Pebble Creek Court and Somerset at Spring Creek at 3801 W. Spring Creek Pkwy. The assets are located less than a half-mile apart in West Plano, where there are few, if any, multifamily sites left to develop.

Francis Property Management acquired the holdings, both built in 1999, in August 2004, according to Collin County tax records. The Reserve, situated on 13 acres, is carrying a $12.9-million assessment for this year and its sister complex, positioned on 18.2 acres, is assessed at $13.9 million.

Lamont Rattler with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. says the assets were marketed as a portfolio to active class A investors, but set up to pass in separate transactions. He confirms for GlobeSt.com that the Houston-based Venterra Realty had the highest offer on the table out of a half dozen serious buyers, but the “previous relationship” between it and the seller “was kind of the determining factor.”

[IMGCAP(2)]Venterra’s upside will come from the location and in-place rents, according to Rattler, who teamed with C&W’s Jason Boyce to bed down the portfolio close-out. Based on Internet websites, the Reserve’s one-, two- and three-bedroom units, ranging from 680 sf to 1,370 sf, are getting $679 to $1,219 per month. Somerset’s mix, which includes townhouses, range from 725 sf to 1,659 sf, with rents of $699 to $1,599 per month.

“There’s your upside,” Rattler says, citing Somerset’s 84 cents per sf average. “You are able to push rents probably a dime.” And unit upgrades, he adds, are part of the value-add plan for Somerset.

Rattler says the transactions are the last ones on the books for the late Don Ostroff, the co-founder of C&W’s multi-housing group and a nationally respected figure in the industry. Rattler and Boyce have been paired with C&W’s more seasoned Rex Jones from San Antonio-Austin market since Ostroff’s death in mid-September.