$34M Sale Completes StarPoint Repositioning

CANOGA PARK, CA-StarPoint Properties LLC has sold its 204-unit Forest Glen apartment complex at 20218 Cohasset St. for $34 million, completing a repositioning play for the Los Angeles-based multifamily specialist.

The transaction was one of two recently closed San Fernando Valley deals, according to Dean Zander of the Encino office of Hendricks & Partners, who represented StarPoint in the sale and also brokered the other transaction, the $19.1-million purchase of a 75-unit complex at 15506 Moorpark St. in Encino by the Orange County office of SSR Realty Advisors.StarPoint, which purchased the Canoga Park property for $26 million from the Bascom Group of Irvine in July 2003, entered into a sales contract nine months later with buyer Skylight Investments of San Francisco. The deal closed after a five-month escrow. Paul Daneshrad, CEO of StarPoint Properties, says that after finding out the property had a recorded condominium map, the company marketed Forest Glen as a condo conversion project and not as an apartment deal. StarPoint updated and completed some of the condo requirements and re-packaged the property as condos. Zander reports that Skylight, which was represented by Carl Taylor of the Investment Group, plans to spend $2 million in upgrades and expects to begin selling condos at the end of the first quarter 2005. The complex features two- and three-bedroom townhouse-style units that average nearly 1,200 sf, with rents ranging from $1,010 to $1,625. The eight-acre property, which was 98% occupied at the time of the sale, features several pools, spa, park, exercise room, a basketball court and other amenities.In the Encino transaction, SSR bought the 75-unit Encino Garden from Adler Ventures of Los Angeles, which was the original builder and owner of the project in 1989. Zander, who represented both the buyer and the seller, tells GlobeSt.com that pension fund advisor SSR Realty plans major upgrades and a repositioning of what he describes as an “under-managed trophy building in excellent condition” that was 100% occupied at the time of the sale. The property consists primarily of two-bedroom units and features amenities including a pool, a spa, elevators and underground parking.