MCDONOUGH, GA –Irvine, Calif.-based Passco Companies has scooped up Sundance Creek, a 232-unit, class A townhouse in metropolitan Atlanta. Built in 2004, the property is located at 575 McDonough Parkway in a fast-growth Atlanta suburb. Passo has invested $18 million in the property.

"We looked at this property in 2008 and actually had it under contract with Blackrock Partners," Gary Goodman, senior vice president of Acquisitions for Passco, tells GlobeSt.com. "But the fundamentals of the market and the operations fell off. The occupancy dipped into the 80s and we aborted it."

In a strange turn of events, Sundance Creek went into default. Blackrock lost the property to Des Moines, IA-based Principal Financial. At that point, Passco entered into an agreement with Principal to acquire the note, but Principal decided half way through the process to foreclose, Goodman says. Passco leaped through Freddie Mac lending hurdles to get the loan closed under the proper program and finally took ownership of the property it eyed for two years.