The San Diego-based multifamily real estate company acquired the 255-unit building from Seth Meltzer, a Michigan private investor. The deal was the first for Crown Pacific's new joint venture partnership with AEW Partners IV LP, an institutional investment fund managed by AEW Capital Management LP of Boston.
"The location and fact that we have 20,000 cars pass by the property every day, as well as the fact that the bones of building and infrastructure are in such great shape, were great reasons to rehabilitate," Ed Easley, Crown Pacific's president and CEO, says of Camelback Towers at 4750 N. Central Ave. in the heart of Phoenix. The joint venture obtained acquisition financing from the Horsham, PA-based GMAC's Residential Funding Corp., a one-year-old pool targeting the housing market.
Easley tells GlobeSt.com that Crown Pacific will embark on a 12-month rehabilitation and repositioning project on the 17-story building within three weeks. The $5-million effort will reposition the 2.4-acre property as an upscale residential destination for young professionals and empty nesters alike. Going forward, the building will be called Landmark Tower, offering a mix of studio apartments with 413 sf; one-bedroom, one-bath designs with 675 sf; and one-bedroom, one-bath units and dens with 947 sf. Rents have yet to be set. JPI Property Management of Irving, TX will manage the holding.
Crown Pacific also will undertake a renovation of 11,000 sf of retail space. Easley says the plan is to add new tenants to the mix.
The refurbished building will be unveiled in first quarter 2005. "Part of the idea is that we're repositioning a mid-century chic building," he says. "We think it's a landmark structure."
Phoenix's midtown submarket was a good first acquisition choice for the partnership, Easley adds, where occupancies are holding steady around 93%. "We've seen starts decrease and we've had a market heavily impacted by affordable new housing sales. We see it beginning to recover," he says. "It's also hard to ignore the job growth." Tyler Anderson of CB Richard Ellis Inc.'s Phoenix office represented Meltzer in the deal.
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