A Missouri real estate investment trust has made its first purchase in Greater Des Moines, a complicated, $32.5 million deal involving the 300-unit Westlake Condominiums in West Des Moines, and it is in the market for more.

Missouri Valley REIT started buying units in October and recently wrapped up its final purchase. The majority were owned by Jim Sinclair’s Westlakes Investment LLC. The final deed was filed Monday.

Ryan Jensen of CBRE|Hubbell Commercial represented Missouri Valley REIT, an 8-year-old firm based in Springfield, Mo., that wants to continue buying Greater Des Moines property. Jensen said the company is looking for 1,000 or more units and is interested in off-market deals.

A multitude of lawyers, the folks at Iowa Title in Adel and city of West Des Moines building inspectors helped the deal along.

Iowa Title tracked down and examined more than 300 abstracts. Though Sinclair owned the majority of the units, attorney Chris Langpaul was called in to help nearly 60 owners with the legal work for their individual sales. Because rental certificates had not been renewed, West Des Moines inspectors made several trips to Westlake, located on 92nd Street, to make sure such things as smoke detectors were in working order.

A ruling earlier this year from the Iowa Supreme Court also pushed the transaction. Read more about Jim Sinclair’s legal battle with a construction insurance company.

Sinclair bought Westlake in 2003 for about $23 million from its Kansas City, Mo., developers. Five years later, he was in federal court seeking to recover expenses for lost profits and the repair of water-related damage.

The federal lawsuit resulted in a consent judgment in which the apartment complex’s developers, general contractors and subcontractors agreed to $15.6 million in damages. The developer, its primary insurance carrier and its subcontractors paid about $3 million. Sinclair’s Westlakes Investments sought to collect the balance from National Surety Corp., which had been retained to provide the excess commercial general liability coverage.

National Surety balked and filed a lawsuit against Westlake Investments in Polk County District Court, claiming it was not liable because its policy did not provide coverage. The case hinged on the words “occurrence” and “accident.” In what many consider a landmark ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that National Surety was liable for the balance of the judgement in the federal case.