IRVINE, Calif., — SARES•REGIS Multifamily Fund recently acquired two apartment communities and is under way on their extensive renovation and market repositioning.
The multifamily fund’s latest acquisitions are The Hills of Diamond Bar with 204 apartments near Los Angeles and The Gables at Mountain Park, a community of 129 apartments in Lake Oswego, Ore. Escrows closed on both properties in the last 30 days. The fund previously acquired 444 apartments in communities in Denver, Redmond, Wash., and Norwalk, Calif.
“All the communities we have acquired have qualities that make them strong candidates for repositioning in their markets and becoming top performers in their class,” said Bill Montgomery, the fund’s co-chief investment officer.
“Each community is in a growing metro location with top schools and a constrained supply of premium rental housing. Diamond Bar and Lake Oswego also are highly regarded as desirable cities with affluent populations and excellent access to employment, shopping and key transportation routes.
At both communities, interior upgrades will include plank flooring, stainless appliances, two-tone paint, upgraded lighting and new fixtures. At The Hills in Diamond Bar, a second bath is being added in some floor plans.
Common areas will undergo substantial modernization. At The Hills in Diamond Bar, for example, three of the property’s five pools will be closed to make way for a large second spa with an adjacent golf-themed club room, putting green, outdoor kitchen, fire pit and meditation garden. Two play areas will be renovated. The leasing office will be refurbished and the business center will be repurposed as a community room and study hall.
In Lake Oswego, The Gables, built in 1991 with a clubhouse, business center and pool, is the last among its competitive set of area properties still in its original condition. Its residents have access to the Mountain Park Homeowner Association, whose facilities and amenities include aquatic center, tennis courts, fitness center, parks, 175 acres of common properties and eight miles of trails, said Ken Gladstein, a co-chief investment officer at the fund’s San Mateo, Calif., office.
The fund’s first three acquisitions were Avalon at Civic Center, 192 apartments in the Los Angeles suburb of Norwalk, Sammamish Ridge Apartments, a 96-unit community in Redmond, Wash., and Arabella with 156 apartments in the Denver Tech Center.
The SARES•REGIS Multifamily Fund is the first to be co-sponsored by SARES•REGIS Group. SRG has more than 600 employees in development and management of $4 billion in owned and fee-based commercial and residential assets throughout California and in Colorado and Arizona. This includes management of more than 15,000 apartments.
According to Marcus & Millichap’s 2013 National Apartment Index, eight of the nation’s top 14 rated markets are in the west and are being targeted by the SARES•REGIS Multifamily Fund. The region’s employment growth is being fueled by technology jobs, especially in coastal markets where housing supplies are most constrained. Additionally, demographic trends nationally project that low homeownership rates, new household formation fueled by the Millennium generation, and immigration will produce 4 million new renters annually.
Since its inception in 1993, SARES•REGIS Group has acquired or developed 20,000 homes and apartments throughout California and in Colorado and Arizona. SARES•REGIS Group is also California’s leading privately held developer of LEED-certified apartments.