Early last year, Credit Suisse decided that to better serve its investors, it would need to shift the property and asset management of its significant tax credit asset management portfolio from its current small, dedicated staff to a larger, more professional company. So after a long process of interviews and sending out requests for proposals with about 20 different entities, Credit Suisse ended up narrowing the list of potential managers to compete for the business. At the end, the institution chose the team it felt that was best able to meet its requirements, and at the right price.

That’s the beginning of the story behind Capreit Inc. and Tampa, FL-based Morrison Grove Capital Advisors’ acquisition of Credit Suisse’s 15,000-unit portfolio, as told by Dick Kadish, president of Rockville, MD-based multifamily real estate firm Capreit. The Capreit/Morrison Grove JV gains management of a portfolio of about 240 units in 31 states valued at $700 million. Kadish would not indicate the price of the acquisition, but did say Capreit and Morrison Grove are 50/50 partners, and the price tag was on par with what the market was offering.

With this deal, Capreit will oversee the ownership, management and/or asset management of more than 30,000 apartments in 39 states that house more than 100,000 residents. In a recent conversation with GlobeSt.com, Kadish indicated that while this is a major win for the company, it really isn’t a major signal that the overall investment market is changing dramatically. An edited version of that discussion follows.