Chang and Shnitzer say Painted Trails attracted multiple offers. RK Properties, which already owns multifamily properties in Arizona, was selected because of a proven track record. RK Properties has holdings in the northwest submarket; the Painted Trails acquisition is the buyer's first move into the East Valley.

"They'd been looking in the East Valley for some time," Chang comments. "A year ago, they identified Painted Trails as an apartment that would fit nicely into their portfolio, but it wasn't available."

Part of the reason the property wasn't available last year was because of a loan with a heavy prepayment penalty. In fact, Shnitzer says Orion had marketed Painted Trails in late 2012 as a loan assumption.

"But buyers were interesting in purchasing it with a new loan, at the current lower interest rates vs. the existing assumable loan, which was well above current interest rates," Shnitzer says, adding that the existing loan was locked out for a defeasance payoff until March 2013. Only after that could the asset be delivered on a free a clear basis to buyers.

The brokers go on to say that Painted Trails was different from other class A apartments, in part, because of its location in Power Ranch, a master-planned community that's received many awards – Painted Trails residents have access to many Power Ranch amenities including playgrounds, hiking trails, fishing lakes and parks.

Then there are the economic fundamentals in the East Valley submarket. Chandler, AZ, located directly southwest of Gilbert, is attracting its fair share of businesses and corporations. Nearby Banner Gateway Medical Center is a huge employment driver as is American Furniture, which is in the process of building a 600,000-square-foot warehouse. Phoenix-Gateway Airport, which handles commercial aviation business, is expanding.

"The upside is that this property has seen significant growth in income during the past four years and this historical proven income growth is justification that the property should continue to see positive income growth," Shnitzer says.

John Kobierowski, Rue Bax and Doug Lazovick with Orion helped represent Wasatch. Robert Alexander with RK Properties was the buyer's in-house representative.