Calls to Fairfield in the firm's San Diego operations were not returned and efforts to reach Chestnut Hill Realty officials also were unsuccessful by deadline. A broker who handled the sale on behalf of Fairfield has declined comment. Simon Butler of Cushman & Wakefield Inc. negotiated the transaction along with Biria St. John and Robert E. Griffin Jr., members of the Boston office's capital markets group. Butler and St. John also had negotiated the sale of Colonial Village to the Fairfield affiliate, DSF Plainville, more than three years ago.

Owned partly by Mitsubishi Corp., Fairfield is co-headquartered in San Diego and Grand Prairie, TX. The firm has a diverse multifamily platform, pursuing such elements as student housing communities in the southeast and condominium conversions. The Plainville purchase was consummated amidst a flurry of Massachusetts investments by Fairfield, with the firm also acquiring assets in Andover, Ashland and Tewksbury while also expanding into New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

Chestnut Hill Realty has been on its own buying spree of late, paying $55 million in March for a 243-unit apartment complex in Canton after securing a prime Cambridge property sporting 39 units for $10.7 million. Founded in 1969, the company owns and manages more than 3,500 residential units in Greater Boston and Rhode Island and controls nearly 250,000 sf of retail and commercial space.