Syndicator Rise48 Equity Buys Suburban Dallas Apartments

Multifamily syndicator Rise48 Equity is following a familiar playbook with its latest transaction in a suburb northeast of Dallas.

The Arizona-based firm purchased a 248-unit apartment complex at 2379 Apollo Road in Garland, Bisnow reported. The sale price wasn’t disclosed, but the firm said it was a 30 percent discount to the property’s value a few years ago. It was an off-market transaction without competition, the firm’s co-founder and CEO Zach Haptonstall said.

The seller was Redondo Beach, California-based Wedgewood, which had 86 percent ownership, along with entities named GDD Holdings and West Ridge Rentals, according to property tax records. The complex was valued for tax purposes this year at $32.8 million, or $132,000 per unit. One- and two-bedroom apartments in the complex are advertised online for about $1,200 to $1,700 a month.

The buyer plans to renovate 88 percent of units at the Shiloh Oaks Apartments and rebrand the property as Rise Apollo Heights. The firm’s “value-add” plans for the 40-year-old complex include adding in-unit washers and dryers and stainless-steel appliances, as well as updating the lighting, plumbing and fixtures. Landscaping, exterior paint and renovations to the pool and clubhouse are also planned.

Haptonstall founded the firm in 2019, and it deals primarily in Phoenix and Dallas. It focuses on acquiring, renovating and reselling value-add apartments.

Floating-rate debt put some multifamily syndicators in distress a few years ago, following interest-rate hikes. In November 2023, $256 million in debt tied to Rise48 buildings was watchlisted, according to Trepp and Morningstar Credit. The loans tied to that debt accounted for seven Phoenix-area assets comprising over 1,700 units. However, Rise48 disputed that it was in distress.

The firm acquired at least three DFW multifamily properties last year.

One of them was a 144-unit apartment complex at 2929 Kings Road on the edge of Dallas’ Oaklawn and Park Cities neighborhoods, which it bought with a $21 million loan. The debt amounted to $145,800 per unit.

—Eric Weilbacher