Solara at Mill Avenue Apartments in Tempe Sold for $77 Million

Phoenix, Arizona CBRE handled the sale of the 515-unit multifamily community Solara at Mill Avenue on behalf of a partnership between Acre Valley Real Estate Capital and BH Equities to Tides Equities for $77 million.

CBRE’s Tyler Anderson, Sean Cunningham, Asher Gunter, Matt Pesch and Danny Baker represented the sellers.
Located at 3730 S. Mill Avenue in Tempe, Solara at Mill Avenue features 425 units upgraded with new cabinets, quartz countertops in the kitchen and bathroom, tile backsplash, wood-style flooring, stainless steel appliances, updated lighting and plumbing fixtures, two-tone paint, and new baseboards.

“Solara at Mill Avenue’s outstanding renovations and appealing location in a high-growth submarket made the community very attractive to investors,” said Pesch. “Getting this deal closed during the pandemic is a testament to the diligence of both the buyer and seller.”

Transaction volume for multifamily communities over 100 units in Phoenix through the first half of 2020 totaled $1.48 billion, down 54.7 percent from the first half of 2019.

“The current economic environment creates challenges and opportunities,” said Acre Valley Real Estate partner Josh Hostetter. “We successfully executed our repositioning strategy for the property and CBRE sourced an excellent buyer to complete our exit from the investment.”

The sellers invested nearly $8 million in transformational renovations to the common area amenities and grounds including adding a new resort-style pool to the main entertainment area, remodeling and expanding the fitness center and furnishing with new state-of-the-art equipment to a club-quality level, and a comprehensive renovation of the clubroom and business center.

“We are thrilled with our purchase of Solara at Mill Avenue as it gives us even more scale in the South Tempe submarket, which is among our favorites in all of Phoenix,” said Tides Equities co-founder Sean Kia.

Tides currently owns 5,500 units in Phoenix and will add another five properties or 1,700 units over the next two months.