Weidner Pays $188M for Phoenix Asset
Desert Club’s trade marks the largest single-asset sale in Arizona in two years.
Weidner Apartment Homes has purchased Desert Club, a 497-unit property in Phoenix, from Clarion Partners for $187.5 million. The transaction marks the largest single-asset multifamily sale in Arizona over the past two years, according to Marcus & Millichap division Institutional Property Advisors which brokered the deal.
Clarion had owned the property for 20 years prior to the sale. In 2004, the company paid $64.2 million to acquire the then-newly built community from Archstone, Yardi Matrix data reveals.
Floorplans include studio and one- to three-bedroom layouts ranging between 824 to 1,327 square feet across 21 two- and three-story buildings. Throughout the years, Desert Club underwent multiple overhauls, and today apartments feature 9-foot ceilings, quartz countertops, wrap-around balconies and private single-car garages. Community amenities consist of a gym, swimming pool and business center, among others.
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Located at 6901 E. Chauncey Lane on more than 21 acres, Desert Club is roughly 3 miles from Scottsdale Airport and about 23 miles northeast of downtown Phoenix, where large employers such as Wells Fargo and Banner Health operate. Two open-air retail centers can be found within less than 3 miles of the property.
IPA Executive Managing Directors Steve Gebing and Cliff David spearheaded the negotiations on behalf of the seller and procured the buyer.
Big multifamily moves in Phoenix
Following this acquisition, Weidner’s footprint expanded to 10,494 units in Greater Phoenix, the same data provider shows. Earlier this year, the investor purchased another asset in The Valley of the Sun. Weidner paid $112 million for Skywater at Tempe Town Lake, a 328-unit community in Tempe, Ariz.
In total, over the first nine months of the year, seven multifamily assets changed hands for more than $100 million each in metro Phoenix, according to Yardi Matrix. Both of Weidner’s purchases make the list. The last asset to command more than Desert Club was The Moderne, a 369-unit community that sold for $260 million in 2022.
Year-to-date through August, investors traded upward of 8,044 units throughout The Valley at an average price of $280,995 per unit, according to the same source. During the same interval last year, only 7,176 units changed hands, but the average apartment sale price was slightly higher, clocking in at $283,435.
