Essex Pays $13.25M for Ocean Villa Apartments

OXNARD, CA-Essex Property Trust acquired the 119-unit Ocean Villa Townhomes apartment complex from a private investor for $13.25 million in one of the relatively few such large transactions in Ventura County in recent years.

“Properties of this size rarely trade in Ventura County,” Ronald Harris of Marcus & Millichap tells GlobeSt.com. Harris, who represented both buyer and seller in the transaction, says owners of larger properties in the county tend to hold them for the long term.

Harris tells GlobeSt.com that the seller received 10 offers on the property from a spectrum of prospective buyers, including institutions, high net worth individuals and exchange buyers.

Ocean Villa Townhomes includes 22 separate buildings at addresses from 4202 to 4601 Dallas Drive, and two separate buildings at 1620 and 1640 E. Berkshire St. The buildings were constructed in the mid-1970s and are of two-story, wood frame and stucco construction. Harris tells GlobeSt.com that Essex plans a major renovation of the buildings, where rents are below market.

The buildings include 84 two-bedroom apartments and 34 townhouse-style apartments, all with one and a half baths, plus one three-bedroom, two-bath unit. The 84 apartments are 900 sf each and the town home-style apartments are 950 sf. Rents for the two-bedroom units ranged from $1,029 to $1,148 at the time of the sale, with the 1,000-sf three-bedroom unit renting for $1,400. The units were 95% occupied at the time of the sale.

Essex has interests in approximately 90 West Coast multifamily properties comprising about 20,000 units and has more than 1,500 units in various stages of development in the San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, and the Pacific Northwest.