60-Unit Complex Fetches $8M in 1031 Exchange

LOS ANGELES, CA-Anchor Pacifica of Pasadena bought a 60-unit apartment complex built in 1970 from two private investors for $8 million. The porperty is located at 3901 Los Feliz Blvd.

Laurie Lustig-Bower of CB Richard Ellis’, who represented the sellers, tells GlobeSt.com the transaction was unusual in that it was a two-step sale by the two partners who sold the building. One of the partners needed to close quickly to meet a 1031 exchange deadline, so that partner sold his interest first. The buyer then later acquired the other partner’s interest in the property.

“We had 10 offers, and we actually had some offers that were higher than the sales price, but only a few of the buyers could meet the seller’s need to close quickly,” Lustig-Bower says. Although such a two-step sale is unusual, she notes, it’s a readily available way for partners in such a situation to meet different deadlines for closing the sale.

The property has what Lustig-Bower describes as “a great location on Los Feliz Boulevard,” with views of the Los Angeles skyline and surrounding mountains. It’s also close to Griffith Park, the Griffith Park Observatory, the Los Angeles Zoo and the Greek Theater. The buyer has potential to add value to the property by raising rents to market levels in the rent-controlled building, which was constructed in 1970, Lustig-Bower says.

The property includes 27 one-bedroom, one-bath units and 33 two-bedroom, two-bath units, all of them larger than average, Lustig-Bower notes. The one-bedroom units range from 800 to 865 sf, compared with an average in Los Angeles of 650 to 700 sf, and the two-bedroom units range from 1,100 to 1,360 sf, compared with L.A. averages of 900 to 1,100 sf.

Catherine Rubenstein of Colliers Seeley International represented the buyer.