ColRich has paid $52.4 million for a Mesa apartment complex built in 1984, a price that works out to roughly $196,000 per unit. The San Diego real estate investment firm plans to rename the property — currently called Avia 266 — as The Remy. The complex sits at 2354 West University Drive, minutes from Arizona State University's Tempe campus and close to freeway access via the Loop 101 and Loop 202.
Beverly Hills-based Geringer Capital sold the property, according to The Real Deal, which first reported the deal. CBRE brokers Austin Groen, Matt Pesch and Asher Gunter represented the seller, while ColRich assumed a loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of the transaction, the outlet reported.
The Buyer, the Seller and the Financing
Geringer Capital had owned Avia 266 since October 2019, when it bought the complex for $45.25 million from Seattle-based Thayer Manca Residential, according to AZ Big Media. That means the property gained roughly $7.15 million in gross value over the seven-year hold before landing in ColRich's hands this month.
ColRich Multifamily, the platform behind the purchase, oversees a portfolio of nearly 20,000 apartment units across growth markets in the Western, Eastern and South Central United States, according to ColRich. The firm traces back to 1977, when South African immigrants Richard Gabriel, Barry Galgut and Colin Seid founded it in San Diego; ColRich says the founders relocated from Johannesburg during the apartheid era before building the private investment platform, which current CEO Danny Gabriel has led since 2003. The company focuses on aging, well-positioned suburban apartments in regions with job and population growth, per its own description of its strategy.
Why Older Walk-Ups Are Suddenly a Bargain
ColRich CEO Danny Gabriel said the market's temporary softness, driven by oversupply across Greater Phoenix, lets buyers snap up older two- and three-story walk-up apartments at steep discounts to what it would cost to build them today, according to AZ Big Media. Rising construction material and labor costs in recent years have made new development far pricier than buying existing stock like Avia 266, the outlet reported. The complex itself spans 10.76 acres, sitting about half a mile from the Loop 101 freeway and under a mile from the Loop 202, with ASU's main campus in nearby Tempe just minutes away, per the same report.
Avia 266 offers studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom floor plans ranging from 605 to 850 square feet, with monthly rents listed between $880 and $1,674 depending on unit size and lease terms, according to Redfin. The community includes full-size washers and dryers, walk-in closets, two pool areas and a 24-hour fitness center, Redfin's listing shows. The outlet's original report also lists a dog park, a clubhouse with a community kitchen and additional pool and spa areas among the property's amenities.
Phoenix's Apartment Glut Meets a Shrinking Pipeline
The deal comes as Metro Phoenix works through a supply glut: the region added more than 20,600 new multifamily units in 2025 while absorbing only about 16,000 to 16,500 of them, pushing the overall vacancy rate to between 11.8% and 12.5% entering 2026, according to AZBEX. Even so, annual rental absorption in 2025 ran more than 170% above historical averages despite the record completions, the firm found.
That oversupply is already reshaping what gets built next. Active multifamily construction across the region dropped 35.5% year-over-year by the second quarter of 2026, falling to 15,974 units under construction from 24,746 a year earlier, according to Kidder Mathews. Developers have pulled back on new project starts amid high interest rates and the recent glut, the firm's data shows.
In Mesa specifically, citywide average apartment rents fell 1.2% year-over-year to $1,481 a month as of June 2026, with 52.9% of the city's rental inventory priced between $1,000 and $1,500, according to Point2Homes. The city's overall rental vacancy rate stands at 5.2%, with renters occupying 37% of Mesa's housing units, the site reports.
How the Deal Stacks Up Against Phoenix's Biggest Sales
ColRich's $196,000-per-unit price stands in sharp contrast to the top of Phoenix's apartment market this year. Earlier this summer, Golden Horizon Enterprises' Marlowe Moy paid $112.5 million — about $336,826 per unit — for the 334-unit Bungalows on Camelback community, a build-to-rent deal that set a state record. Other recent trades tracked by the outlet include Arte Moreno's $125 million cash purchase of the 253-unit Cortland Biltmore complex in March and Blackstone's $101.4 million sale of the 412-unit Arrowhead Summit complex in Glendale in April.
The flurry of activity underscores why the Phoenix area remains a hotspot for multifamily investors. WalletHub ranks Phoenix as the country's most renter-friendly metro, while Scottsdale, Gilbert and Chandler placed among the nation's top three cities for balancing rent prices and cost of living against quality of life, per the same rankings.
Whether Phoenix's elevated vacancy rate normalizes quickly remains uncertain as the construction pipeline keeps contracting through late 2026 and 2027, according to AZBEX and Kidder Mathews data. For now, ColRich is betting that renovating 1980s-era stock like the future Remy — rather than building new — is the safer play while that supply glut works itself out.
