Sioux Falls broker connects buyer, seller on large Iowa investment property

Aug. 27, 2025

This Site Spotlight is sponsored by Bender Commercial.

A national brokerage listed the property — but it was a local broker who brought the buyer.

When Alex Soundy of Bender Commercial learned that Hillcrest Village Apartments and Townhomes in Orange City, Iowa, were for sale, he knew just who to contact.

“My client is headquartered out of Orange City, and I understood the type of projects that aligned with their goals,” Soundy said. “This one happened to be in their backyard, so I knew it would be the perfect marriage of asset type and location to support their growth.”

AXIS is a real estate investment firm founded in 2019 that began with converting one single-family home to multifamily and has grown to a portfolio of more than 1,000 units across South Dakota and Iowa.

“We’ve trended to the larger apartments — right now our average deal size is between 24 and 100 units,” co-founder Tyler Spaans said. “We’re only an hour and 20 minutes from Sioux Falls, and Orange City is a town of 6,500 with 400 to 500 rental units, so for us to grow, we have to operate in bigger markets around us.”

That led him to Bender Commercial and Soundy in 2023, when AXIS acquired Parkview Apartments in west-central Sioux Falls.

“With Hillcrest, I saw an opportunity for them to own the nicest apartment complex in their backyard,” Soundy said.

“It’s a really nice asset in the middle of a really nice neighborhood. So you feel like you’re living in a residential development, and Orange City enjoys steady growth, with good health care and business services, Northwestern College and a lot of young grads and families who stick around. Plus, knowing that Sioux Falls-based Eagle Construction built and developed the property, I knew it was well built.”

The 104-unit complex is a mix of traditional center-load apartments and townhomes, built in two phases in 2019 and 2021.

“The occupancy is full – consistently trending steadily above 98 percent,” Soundy said.

The property also offers a clubhouse with a community room and fitness center.

“This was the biggest apartment complex in our area,” Spaans said. “We understood the market really well and are invested here, so we just see the advantage of operationally having that in our backyard, being able to continue to grow our business and to be a nice pillar for our company.”

Working with Soundy has brought a lot of value, he added.

“Alex is a great guy to work with,” Spaans said. “I think he offers a lot of knowledge about investments. He knows the industry and has been able to offer great advice when it comes to making large investment decisions like this. He’s got a solid company that backs him and provides advice as well, and we definitely plan to continue to work with him in the future.”

While Bender Commercial is based in Sioux Falls, its deals are regional and even national in nature.

“We’re not a national firm, but we represent clients, both sellers and buyers, in large investment transactions locally and regionally,” Soundy said. “We’re currently under contract on a large multifamily property in Brookings. I’ve done over $50 million in multifamily and investment transactions in Watertown, Mitchell and Rapid City in the last few years.”

As a firm, Bender has closed recent deals across the entire state of South Dakota, in Iowa and Minnesota, and recently has become licensed in Nebraska to expand its investment sales services because “we have both the regional relationships and the national investor network needed to bring qualified buyers to the table,” Soundy continued.

“And with the launch of Bender Capital Advisors, we now also provide debt and equity placement services, offering clients a more complete set of financial modeling, underwriting and capital solutions.

“We have access to the same buyers that a national firm does, along with the same marketing reach and client resources. But what sets us apart are the long-standing local relationships that often make the difference in bringing a deal together.”

To learn more about Bender Commercial, visit here.