BRE owns and operates 72 apartment communities totaling 20,267 units in California, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Utah and Colorado. BRE currently has 10 other apartment communities in various stages of development and construction, totaling 2,339 units, and joint venture interests in three additional apartment communities, totaling 780 units.

"Mark has extensive experience in multifamily acquisitions and will lead and manage BRE's acquisition activity, increasing our presence in our core markets of Southern and Northern California, Denver and Seattle," BRE's chief executive Bradley P. Griggs tells GlobeSt.com, before doing a little impromptu marketing. "We are always looking for opportunities to add to our portfolio, and so anyone seeking to sell assets should contact us."

Griggs says Peterson's job is a new position for the company. "He is not replacing anyone, but rather we are focusing our efforts and created a separate function to address our acquisitions and target assets," says Griggs. "We are not going on a selling spree but rather looking to buy. Our annual budget for this function is between $50 and $100 million and so Mark will focus our efforts and keep us abreast of opportunities as they arise."