General partner interests in 20 affordable and seniors housing properties have been acquired by Bayside Communities, LLC, from bankrupt developer A.F. Evans Co.
The portfolio has 2,135 units in California, Washington, and Oregon.
Bayside Communities also announced that it will acquire general partner interests in another 12 properties from the A.F. Evans portfolio as consents are obtained in the next few weeks.
“This major multifamily acquisition includes a stable affordable housing portfolio that has been well-managed to provide reasonably priced rental units for thousands of people throughout the Western states,” said Michael Barker, co-chairman of Bayside Communities, in a statement. “Our goal is to ensure a stable management platform for the portfolio we are acquiring as well as the many properties managed for institutional investors and other owners.”
Bayside Communities has plans to acquire and secure management contracts on more than 20,000 affordable and senior rental units during the next five years.
Included in the recent deal was the property management arm of the bankrupt company, Evans Property Management, Inc., which will operate as EPMI, a Bayside company, under the management of Debbie Weber, who previously served as president of Evans Property Management. She will continue in that role with EPMI, which will manage the 20 acquired properties along with an additional 47 fee-based managed properties totaling 7,300 units. The current 300 staff members of the firm will also join the new management company under Weber’s leadership.
Weber will report to Jeff Weller and Mory Barak, who will serve as co-CEOs of the new firm.
Bayside Communities, LLC, was formed to acquire the affordable housing assets of A.F. Evans Co., while Bayside Management, LLC, is the Bayside affiliate formed to manage the assets being acquired by Bayside Communities along with other fee-managed properties. Affiliates of Southern California-based The Luzzatto Co., Inc., Barker Pacific Group, Inc., and Lion Real Estate Group, LLC, are the investors in the Bayside entities. Michael Barker and Marc Luzzatto will serve as the co-chairmen, overseeing Bayside Communities and EPMI/Bayside Management Co.
Oakland, Calif.-based A.F. Evans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. At the time, CEO Art Evans attributed the company’s need to restructure to a “steep decline in the condominium market and illiquid capital markets.”
Founded in 1977, the company developed more than 10,000 housing units across a variety of product types, including low-income, mixed-income, and market-rate housing in for-sale and rental multifamily properties.
