SB Real Estate Expands Phoenix Footprint
The company plans to spend $200 million across three high-growth markets.
SB Real Estate Partners has paid $27.5 million for East 3434 Apartments, a 128-unit garden-style community in Phoenix. CBRE Capital Markets arranged the transaction on behalf of both the buyer and the seller, Break of Day Capital. Berkadia’s JV Equity and Structured Capital Group helped the buyer secure an equity partner.
The new owner has rebranded the asset as Portola at Papago and plans to invest $2 million in capital improvements to the 1985-built community.
Located at 3434 E. McDowell Road, the 2.8-acre property consists of five two- and three-story buildings. Floorplans include a mix of one- and two-bedroom units ranging between 650 and 950 square feet. Community amenities include a swimming pool, playground and laundry room.
Portola at Papago is less than 5 miles from downtown Phoenix and 4 miles north of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. A retail center at the intersection of East McDowell Road and North 32nd Street is within walking distance of the community.
The CBRE team that arranged the transaction included Executive Vice-Presidents Brian Smuckler and Jeff Seaman, First Vice-President Derek Smigiel and Vice-President Bryson Fricke.
Trading in Phoenix
The acquisition is in line with SB Real Estate Partners’ plans to spend $200 million this year on multifamily properties across Phoenix, Las Vegas and the Inland Empire. In August, the company paid $24.3 million for Portola East Mesa, a 126-unit Phoenix community, formerly owned by FPA Multifamily.
The company is capitalizing on Phoenix’s high-performing multifamily market. Driven by strong population gains—2.3 percent in 2020 alone—and expanding employment opportunities in the fast-growing tech hub, the metro’s occupancy rate reached 96.5 percent for the Lifestyle segment as of July, a recent Yardi Matrix report shows.
The metro also registered the highest transaction volume across major U.S. metros, with $4.5 billion in assets trading in the first half of 2021.