Austin, TX (April 18, 2011) - Atlanta-headquartered ARA, the largest privately held, full-service investment advisory brokerage firm in the nation focusing exclusively on the multihousing industry, is pleased to announce the sale of Las Palmas apartments, an REO property in southeast Austin. Built in 1985, the garden-style community consists of 121 units on 3.33 acres. Andrew Shih of ARA-Austin represented the seller in the transaction.
Located off Town Lake Circle Dr. in southeast Austin, Las Palmas is situated within minutes from the downtown Austin Central Business District and approximately three miles from the University of Texas main campus. The property's submarket continues to undergo major transformation with ongoing and planned mixed-use developments bringing in new residents.
Las Palmas is located in close proximity of multiple major redevelopment sites that have and will continue to positively impact the southeast part of town. "We felt this would be a popular deal," said Shih, "It was an opportunity for an investor to purchase an REO property in a gentrifying neighborhood."
Las Palmas was foreclosed upon several months prior to the sale. During the sales process, the property was managed by a third party manager and had a very low occupancy with rents comparable to other assets in the area.
"This was an excellent value add turnaround opportunity," said Shih, "Duke Capital, a local private buyer, was able to purchase the property well below replacement cost, with the potential to complete substantial focused interior and exterior improvements that will help increase occupancy and raise rents."
To schedule an interview with an ARA executive regarding this transaction or for more information about ARA and the ARA National Manufactured Housing Group, locally, please contact Elizabeth DeKoch at edekoch@arausa.com or 512.637.1223, or nationally, Amy Morris at amorris@arausa.com or 678.553.9366.
About ARA
Atlanta-headquartered ARA is the largest privately held, full-service investment advisory firm in the nation that focuses exclusively on the brokerage, financing and capital sourcing of multihousing properties including conventional, affordable, distressed assets, notes sales, seniors, student & manufactured housing and multihousing land. ARA is comprised of the country's top investment professionals who leverage a unique and fully integrated cooperative business platform of shared information, relationships and technology driven solutions. ARA's unified enterprise approach ensures that clients are delivered the broadest asset exposure, effective matching of buyers and sellers, and the shortest transaction timeframes in the industry. The combination of resources, unparalleled market expertise and nationwide presence in the multihousing marketplace has resulted in average annual production volume of $6.3 billion in real estate transactions since 2003. For detailed information on ARA's extensive multihousing investment services, visit www.arausa.com.