Security Properties and Pacific Life Insurance Co. said last Thursday that they have purchased Andante Apartments, a 576-unit multifamily property built in 2000 in Phoenix, for $85,250,000. Security Properties now owns a total of five assets in the Phoenix marketplace.
Andante is located within the highly desired Phoenix suburb of Ahwatukee. Situated in the valley’s southeast corner, Ahwatukee is best characterized by its affluent demographic, low crime rate, strong school district, and close proximity to employment corridors. Additionally, the suburb’s unique location at the foothills of the 16,000-acre South Mountain Park provides residents a convenient escape to over 50 miles of hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails. On-site, residents enjoy access to multiple retail centers, including Lakeside Plaza, just one mile west with a Trader Joe’s, Safeway, and Fry’s, as well as the Ahwatukee Foothill Towne Center one mile to the north and anchored by Target, Best Buy, and The Home Depot
Andante Apartments is adjacent to the Chandler submarket, home to the largest concentration of technology jobs in the entire state. The corridor includes approximately 25,000 jobs, including those at the following firms: Intel (11,400 jobs), Wells Fargo (5,100 jobs with a planned expansion to 12,000 jobs), Bank of America (3,900), Freescale Semiconductor (3,000), PayPal (1,900), and Microchip (1,600). Additionally, Intel recently announced that it’s investing $7 billion to complete a state-of-the-art semiconductor production facility at its Ocotillo campus, which is located approximately 12 minutes southeast of Andante and is expected to add over 3,000 new jobs.
The business plan is to renovate the property’s clubhouse to offer top-of-the-market amenities. The interiors will also be updated to a final scope that includes lowering the bar top and installing new, hard-surface countertops, appliances, flooring, paint, lighting fixtures, and plumbing fixtures. The renovated units will still be priced materially below new-construction rents, providing a great value proposition for the area.
According to Davis Vaughn, director at Security Properties, the acquisition was made because, “Ahwatukee has been a target submarket for us for years. With excellent schools and demographics, plus proximity to high-paying jobs, all of the fundamentals were in place at Andante for us to implement our value-add reposition program.”