RSJ Cameron, a limited liability company in Santa Cruz, Calif., plus about a dozen other entities also from California paid $19 million recently to buy The Grove at Pleasant Valley Apartments in west Little Rock.
Teresa Bruno, Canyon View's regional manager for Arkansas, was familiar with The Grove at Pleasant Valley because she managed a nearby complex about 15 years ago.
"I remember what The Grove was like," said Bruno, who is based in Fayetteville. "Everyone wanted to live there."
Canyon View will make upgrades to The Grove, including cabinets, appliances, flooring and lighting fixtures, Bruno said.
Canyon View's more than 200 investors are in California.
"You can buy a lot more with your money in the Midwest than you can in California," Bruno said.
The apartments previously sold for $16.5 million in 2003. The apartments, at 11900 Pleasant Ridge Road, were last appraised at $17.4 million.
The seller was Vintage Pleasant Valley LLC.
The three-story apartments, built in 1996, have 225 units, which means the price of The Grove at Pleasant Valley is equal to $84,444 per unit.
The buyers financed the purchase with a $13 million loan from Pine Bluff's Simmons Bank. The mortgage has a maturity date of 2023.
Since about 2010, multifamily housing has become the "darling of commercial real estate," said Ted Bailey III, an owner of The Multifamily Group, which follows the Pulaski County apartment market and brokers sales.
"The market started to recover after the Great Recession," Bailey said. "If you look at the different property types, I think multifamily has outperformed even office properties. Historically, office properties had the most [properties sold]."
RSJ Cameron is affiliated with Canyon View Capital of Santa Cruz, an investment group that owns apartment complexes in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
According to its website, Canyon View owns seven other apartment complexes in Arkansas -- Chamberland Square in Fayetteville, the Cottages of Fort Smith, Country Meadows in Searcy, Crossing at Thornton Ferry in Hot Springs, Garden Park Apartments in Fayetteville, Southwind Place in Rogers and University Park Apartments in Conway.
Canyon View closed on another apartment complex recently, the Weddington Place apartments in Fayetteville, Bruno said. Weddington Place is the first independent senior living facility Canyon View has acquired, Bruno said.
CHENAL RETAIL
Haag-Brown Development LLC, an affiliate of Haag-Brown Commercial Real Estate & Development in Jonesboro, paid $4.4 million last month for 63,700 square feet of retail space, which now is home to a Marshalls, a Fit Factory and a vacant space next to the Kroger on Chenal Parkway, said Joshua Brown, who owns Haag-Brown with Greg Haag.
The Kroger Marketplace at 16105 Chenal Parkway opened in 2010.
Haag-Brown financed the deal with a $4.6 million loan from Batesville's First Community Bank. The mortgage has a maturity date of 2023.
The property, which includes the building plus the land to the street, last appraised at $7.7 million.
The seller was Kroger Limited Partnership I.
Haag-Brown of Jonesboro normally operates as a commercial real estate broker in northeast Arkansas and as a buyer and developer outside its market, Brown said. Haag-Brown expects to close soon on a long-term lease with a national retailer not in central Arkansas, Brown said.
"We just love that area of Little Rock and felt like this was a good opportunity," Brown said.
Haag-Brown also develops real estate in Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.
EASTWOOD APARTMENTS
AndMark Eastwood Apartments LLC, a Los Angeles company, paid $2.8 million to buy a 96-unit apartment complex in Jacksonville last month.
The Eastwood Apartments are at 1011 S. James St. Included in the sale was 4.7 acres.
The seller was Carolyn J. Gray, Bartus M. Gray Jr., Gray Joint Revocable Trust and Carolyn Gray Trust II.
AndMark Eastwod Apartments financed the deal with a $2.3 million mortgage with Chambers Bank in Danville that matures in 2025.
The apartments were last appraised at $2.2 million. The Grays bought the apartments in 2012 for $657,000.
WAREHOUSE SOLD
OB CRE II LLC invested $1.1 million to buy Triangle Warehouse at 8001 Assembly Court in Little Rock last month.
It is near Baseline Road and Production Road.
The 91,000-square-foot warehouse was built in 1976. Included in the deal is 4.3 acres.
The warehouse and acreage was last appraised at $936,000.
BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Miss., lent OB CRE II LLC $880,000 to help finance the purchase. The mortgage matures in 2038.
Richard O'Brien of Little Rock is the sole member of OB CRE II LLC, a Little Rock company. James Saxton is an officer of the business.
TRAMMEL GARDENS
Homebuilder Rausch Coleman Mid-Ark LLC sold six lots on Ridgemist Lane in the Trammel Gardens Phase I subdivision in North Little Rock to an affiliated company, ARG Little Rock LLC, for about $822,000 last month.
Rausch Coleman also sold six lots in the Graham Woods Phase II subdivision of Jacksonville to ARG Little Rock for almost $650,00 last month.
ARG Little Rock borrowed almost $1.5 million from Searcy's First Security Bank for the Trammel Woods project. The loan matures in 2033.
ARG Little Rock also took out a loan on the Graham Woods development from First National Bank of Fort Smith for $2.2 million, with a maturity of 2020.
Rausch Coleman is the largest homebuilder in Arkansas, with homes in Northwest Arkansas, Sherwood, North Little Rock, Cabot, Beebe, Bryant, Alexander, Conway, Jonesboro and Jacksonville.
David Frye, an executive with Rausch Coleman, is also manager of ARG.
Rausch Coleman, which starts about 400 houses a year, has been in business for 60 years and built more than 20,000 houses. It also builds houses in the Kansas City, Mo., area, Oklahoma City, Tulsa and in Texas.
ROCK STREET UNITS
JCJ Holdings LLC of Memphis paid $430,000 last month to buy a five-unit apartment building at 920 Rock St. in downtown Little Rock.
The seller was GK Properties Inc., led by Glenn Kubeczka.
The building, constructed in 1961, last sold for $159,000 in 2000.
It was last appraised at $352,500.
SundayMonday Business on 03/04/2018