Burnham Forms Multifamily Partnership

SAN DIEGO-Burnham Real Estate has agreed to partner with Apartment Realty Advisors in a venture that will be named ARA/Pacific. The new entity extends Denver-based ARA with a west coast presence and gives Burnham a nationwide platform for its multifamily division. ARA/Pacific will deal exclusively with apartment transactions.As part of the partnership, Ed Rosen and John Chu, executives with Burnham, will become principal partners with ARA/Pacific and Stath Karras, Burnham’s president and CEO, will sit on ARA’s national board of directors. Karras sees the partnership as an opportunity for Burnham to grow its national platform. “This partnership gives us the opportunity to expose Burnham clients to investment opportunities throughout the United States,” he says.A recent Burnham report revealed that San Diego’s apartment market has hit its highest volume of sales since 1989. With the frenzy of activity, much of it going toward condo conversions, apartment prices have skyrocketed and a national platform will allow Burnham diverse markets to dispose of properties, according to Karras. “[We're] always looking for ways to provide our clients with new and better services,” he says. “ARA/Pacific expands the geographic reach of our multifamily services.”ARA has been in a growth pattern of late. In two years, the multifamily brokerage firm has represented more than $4 billion in deals this year. Executives with the firm see the Burnham partnership as an opportunity for more growth. “The ARA expansion and partnership with Burnham gives national and regional apartment owners, investors and vendors direct access to decision-makers in major markets throughout the United States–including a new presence in the Pacific Southwest,” says Jeff Hawks, principal of ARA.The partnership gives ARA’s nationwide operations 11 offices throughout the country, including new offices through existing Burnham Real Estate locations in San Diego and Las Vegas. Among the other offices include Denver; Charlotte, NC; Houston; Dallas; Boca Raton, FL; Dayton, OH; and Burlington, MA.