Deco group gives aging apartments 'retro-modern' vibe

Scottsdale-based Deco Communities is investing in the Phoenix-area apartment market by purchasing communities up to a half-century old and giving them a "retro-modern" makeover. Deco, led by former Scottsdale condo developers Robert Lyles and Patricia Watts along with partner Dan Richards, is about to begin work on its third "Cabana" apartment community, the brand created for Deco's urban-renewal apartment projects. Lyles said Cabana properties are an affordable complement to all the high-end, luxury apartment projects under construction in Phoenix and Scottsdale. The idea behind Cabana, he said, is to purchase lower-end apartments built in the 1960s and 1970s in prime locations such as central Phoenix and near Arizona State University in Tempe. "They're projects that you could have purchased and torn down," Lyles said. "Our strategy is to rehab them and make them look really cool." Deco's extreme makeovers include gutting and refinishing each unit with new paint, floors, countertops, cabinets, fixtures and appliances, he said.

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