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Residential Revival
Los Angeles Business Journal
June 10, 2002
Real Estate - Danny King

Two recent apartment compex purchases mark the continued resurgence of the Mid-Wilshire rental housing market.

Irvine-based Bascom Group bought the 128-unit Catalina Apartments at 333 S. Catalina St. for $12.5 million. The 116,000-square-foot complex is about 95% occupied.

The company, which owns 5,000 units throughout Southern California, bought the 142-unit building at 411 s. Virgil Ave. about three years ago.

"It's a very strong infill submarket," said Andrew Newton, acquisitions manager at Bascom. "There's a very strong income base that makes it very attractive."

The deal follows on the heels of Donald T. Sterling Corp's purchase of a 236-unit apartment complex at 687 Irolo St., which is about a mile away from the Catalina Apartments. Sterling paid $22 million, or about $93,000 a unit for the 375,000-square-foot complex.

Bascom plans on investing $1.3 million in upgrades, with hopes of boosting the average rent to $1,250 a month from about $1,100 a month, he added.

The 98,000 per unit price is consistent with an area that had appreciated markedly over the past few years, according to Dean Zander, associate partner at apartment brokerage Hendricks & Partners.

"Buildings were selling for $55,000 to $60,000 a unit in '97 and '98," said Zander. "It's jumped in $5,000 to $10,000 increments every year since then."

Sandra Park of Wiseman Realty & Investment Co. represented both the buyer and the seller, Catalina Limited Partnership, on the deal.