Brokerage makes move in Southeast

A locally based commercial-real-estate firm that specializes in buying and selling apartment communities has shifted into expansion mode despite the commercial-real-estate market's ongoing woes.

Hendricks & Partners, a commercial-real-estate brokerage, research and consulting firm based in Phoenix, reported that it has acquired two apartment brokerages in the Southeastern U.S. - one in Birmingham, Ala., and the other in Baton Rouge, La.

The two acquisition deals mark the beginning of a major push into the Southeast, according to Hendricks & Partners President Brent Long.

Hendricks & Partners acquired the Oakley Group, a Birmingham-based real-estate firm headed by industry veteran David Oakley, and Cordaro Companies in Baton Rouge, headed by broker Gregory J. Cordaro.

"We are in dialogue with key apartment firms and senior apartment advisers in the region and have begun our expansion with two very strong groups," Long said.

Terms of the purchase deals were not disclosed.

While most types of commercial real estate have been a tough sell during the past year, apartment communities have been the one notable exception.

Local brokers have pointed to one key reason: The U.S. Federal Housing Administration offers a program that guarantees repayment of apartment-building purchase loans in the same manner it guarantees home mortgages.

Without the FHA option, which compensates the lender if the borrower defaults, apartment buildings would not be the hot item they are today, they said.

Long said the company, which has brokers in 37 cities, is in the process of opening a new office in Jackson, Miss., and also is looking for possible acquisitions in Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida.

by J. Craig Anderson The Arizona Republic Jan. 16, 2011 12:00 AM





Brokerage makes move in Southeast