SHERMAN OAKS, CALIF. — Jim Fisher and Mike Smith, principals of Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, have arranged the $481.3 million sale of a Southern California multifamily portfolio consisting of 14 buildings and 2,666 units. Fisher and Smith represented the seller, JH Real Estate Partners Inc., a Newport Beach-based private investor, in the transaction. Los Angeles-based TruAmerica Multifamily was the buyer.
The portfolio includes five properties in Los Angeles County, six buildings in San Bernardino and Riverside counties and three assets in San Diego County.
“Portfolios of this size and geographic scope rarely come on the market. Correspondingly, there are only a few buyers able to accommodate them,” says Fisher. “As a result, our marketing efforts had to be sharply targeted to just a dozen or so institutional and private investors. We chose TruAmerica because we were confident they could get to the finish line.”
TruAmerica has been active in the multifamily market since its founding in 2013, acquiring 4,444 apartment units in the western United States. The company, in partnership with Capri Capital Partners LLC, most recently purchased the 464-unit Vermont, consisting of two high-rise towers in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles, for $283 million.
The properties in the JH Real Estate Partners portfolio are Class B assets ranging in size from the 60-unit Bayridge Apartments in San Pedro, Calif., to the 384-unit Towne Center Apartment Homes in Lakewood. JH Real Estate Partners, which divested the portfolio as part of a repositioning, estimates that considerable rental upside can be achieved over the next two years based on capital improvements recently put into place and additional projected improvements.
“We’re in a value-add market, and we’ll likely see more of these types of acquisitions over the next year, albeit not of this size,” says Fisher. “The rate of rental growth we are seeing in the multifamily sector, combined with ongoing strong demand means that rehabilitating older buildings will make good financial sense, especially when you consider the cost and vagaries involved in the entitlement process for new developments.”
Fisher and Smith have represented JH Real Estate Partners in numerous acquisition and disposition transactions including the acquisition of the 158-unit Canyon Crest Apartments in Santa Clarita, Calif., which is also part of this sale; the 358-unit Southwood Gardens (now named Seaport Village) in Long Beach; the 240-unit Montierra Apartments in Ontario, Calif.; and a 250,000-square-foot retail center in Redlands.
— Haisten Willis