Southwest Value Partners Nears Close of Equity Capital Raise for its Recently Formed Fund XV
Online, June 15, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Southwest Value Partners, a private real estate investment firm with offices in San Diego and Phoenix, announced it is in the final stages of successfully closing its recently formed Fund XV, which will include both institutional and individual investment partners. This news comes on the heels of Southwest Value Partners' closing its $135 million Fund XIV to new asset acquisitions and, simultaneously, its March 2010 $27.65 million joint venture with New York City based GoldenTree Insight Partners to acquire Merrill Ranch, a 4,500-acre master planned community located in northern Pinal County, a Phoenix, AZ, submarket. The Merrill Ranch deal, in combination with other residential land tracts acquired by Southwest Value Partners in 2008 and 2009, positions Southwest Value Partners as one of the largest land owners in the greater Phoenix area, controlling more than 26,000 residential home lots primarily directed to entry level home buyers.
Southwest Value Partners' land acquisitions were well timed. According to the Wall Street Journal's cite to a recent report by institutional investment research firm Zelman and Associates, land prices have recently begun to rise rapidly. Nationally, finished lots are up nearly 20 percent from the 2009 trough, and prices in Phoenix and Southern California have soared more than 60 percent.
Southwest Value Partners has a history of anticipating market conditions that dates back to its inception in 1990. The firm has invested heavily in past down cycles and divested when pricing was not justified by underlying economic fundamentals. In 2004 the firm sold its Class A commercial office portfolio, which included San Diego's downtown landmark Emerald Plaza in a transaction exceeding $274 million. Although commercial office acquisition activity was high at that time, the firm had concluded that economic fundamentals underlying asset pricing did not support returns justifying the risk of additional acquisitions or continued ownership.
The firm's principals include Robert Sarver (majority owner of the Phoenix Suns and Chairman of Western Alliance Bancorporation), Mark Schlossberg, and Cary Mack, who are also among the founders and current directors of San Diego based Torrey Pines Bank.