French Village Apartments and Trinity Place Get New Owners

By Amalia Otet, Associate Editor

While there is still a long way to recovery, Memphis real estate seems to be on the right track. The housing industry is finally going through some favorable times right now, considering the growing number of transactions closed in the last three months as compared to the same period last year. Home sales rose 2.6 percent in April, 6.8 percent in May and 4.5 percent in June, according to a realtor’s report referred to by the Memphis Business Journal.

The multi-housing sector reported significant activity during the last few weeks, including the sale of the Grahamwood Pointe Apartments. Previously called French Village Apartments, the 244-unit community located at 4055 Summer Avenue sold for $2.8 million in a deal financed by Triumph Bank. The new owner, Grahamwood Place Apartment Community LLC, plans to renovate the property, including installing controlled access gates, new flooring and appliances, and repairing the landscaping and parking lot. The work will be supervised by Multi-South Management, which will continue to manage the 10.6-acre complex after the upgrade is complete.

Despite this, prices remain down and continue to fall; this goes not only for residential properties, but for commercial real estate as well. Trinity Place, a retail center in Cordova, recently sold for $2.8 million, 65 percent less than its 2006 sale price of $7.9 million. The property was marketed by CB Richard Ellis as an investment opportunity, perfectly placed at the intersection of Trinity Road and Germantown Parkway, along the well-known commercial corridor, in close proximity of other major retailers like Walmart, Supertarget and Kroger. The multiple-tenant center is 57 percent occupied, and it has been anchored by McAlister’s Deli since 1999. The buyer was Altus Real Estate Advisors LLC, an Atlanta-based real estate advisory company currently focused on purchasing distressed properties and turning them into profitable business, according to Richard Bell, managing partner and southeast director of Altus, in a story reported by The Daily News. “We try to buy properties that have historically done well, but have fallen on hard times, mainly due to owners having purchased them during a peak economic period,” he said.

Although Trinity Place is Altus’ first plunge into the Memphis market, the company intends to make more investments in the area, specifically in properties located in Germantown, Collierville, Cordova and/or Bartlett.