Gilbert – A company formed by Pillar Communities LLC in Seattle, Wa. (Jim Almon, principal) paid $46.3 million ($146,984 per unit) to purchase the 315-unit Ironwood at SanTan apartments at 2910 S. Greenfield Road in Gilbert. Partner at Rose Law Group, Court Rich, says, “For years Gilbert has been the most thriving single family home market in the valley. It’s interesting to see multi-family springing up as well.” The seller was Archstone SanTan LP, a company formed by Archstone in Englewood, Colo. (Scot Sellers, CEO). The deal was brokered by Tyler Anderson, Sean Cunningham and Asher Gunter of CBRE in Phoenix. Records show Pillar at SanTan LP (the Pillar Communities entity) acquired the project with a $29.615 million loan issued through NorthMarq Capital LLC in Bloomington, Minn. That CME (Capital Markets Execution) loan is guaranteed by Freddie Mac and will be sold to the federal agency. Ironwood at SanTan, which is now called Pillar at SanTan, was developed in 2009. Mark-Taylor Development was the contractor. Over the years, BREW has reported companies formed by Almon buying and selling numerous apartment projects in the Phoenix area. The privately-held company is looking for more multi-family investment opportunities in the Valley. The Phoenix area assets have been bought and sold by companies formed by Pillar Communities LLC, PrivatePortfolio Group LLC, and Almon Investment Group LLC. PrivatePortfolio Group is the manager of each single entity asset in the portfolio, and Almon Investment Group is the manager of PrivatePortfolio Group. Pillar Communities LLC is PrivatePortfolio Group’s wholly-owned management firm that is responsible for day to day operations of each multi-family property. In February, BREW reported a company formed by Pillar Communities paying $45.1 million ($146,428 per unit) to buy the 308-unit San Portella apartments at 2155 S. 55th Street in Tempe. The seller was a venture formed by Mark-Taylor Residential. As of September 2011, Archstone had an ownership position in 428 communities and 73,955 units either completed or under construction that are located across the U.S. The company owns apartments in Glendale, Peoria and Tempe and is looking for more multi-family development opportunities. Get more from Almon at (206) 328-9346. Talk to Brett Johnson of Archstone at (303) 708-5959. Call the CBRE agents at (602) 735-5555. Elliott Pollack, President of Elliott D. Pollack & Company adds:
The apartment transactions highlight the continued attractiveness of that sector to investors. Financing seems to be available. Demand is strong. And as the economy eventually improves, there will be substantial pent up demand as household formations increase rapidly. This will start to occur as population flows improve and the unemployment rate gets to 7%. This will allow many who are living with their parents or who have doubled up to find employment or feel secure enough to go out and form their own household. A great number of these will head to apartments.
