Records indicate an affiliate of Laguna Beach nonprofit Foundation for Affordable Housing Inc. paid nearly $256,000 per unit for The Knolls, a 260-unit apartment project on East Maple Avenue, near the intersection of Chapman Avenue and Prospect Street. The complex is about 2 miles east of Chapman University.
The deal, brokered by Colliers’ Senior Executive Vice President Kitty Wallace and agent Anna Kampling, is among tops for apartment transactions in the past year.
“Affordable housing is in high demand in today’s market,” said Kampling, adding “it was fortuitous we were able to help the buyer find an affordable asset of this scale in such a tight market.”
First Orange Purchase
Foundation for Affordable Housing, which invests in properties via low-income housing tax credits, acquired the 272,353-square-foot project from New York-based Brookfield Properties.
Built in 1963, the project was just 2% vacant at the time of sale. It has two-bedroom units sized at nearly 1,200 square feet with prices starting at $1,600.
It’s the first purchase in the city for the buyer, which now has a local portfolio totaling eight properties.
$160M JPI Sale
The deal adds to a series of affordable apartment sales in the region as of late.
A state agency is in the process of converting three large Anaheim apartment properties into workforce housing projects after separate deals totaling nearly $400 million. The transaction was first reported by the Business Journal.
The deals are part of a workforce housing finance program created last year by the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA).
The first of the three apartment properties, the 220-unit Alexan CTR City, closed at the end of December for $110 million under the new public-private partnership structure.
In the second Anaheim deal, the CSCDA last month closed on The Parallel, paying $156 million for the 386-unit project built in 2018 at 1105 E. Katella Ave., in the Platinum Triangle.
Newport Beach investment firm Waterford Property Co. has signed on as a project sponsor for that deal.
The third sale, for the Jefferson Platinum Triangle complex, was completed late last week.
It sold for $160 million, or $400,000 a unit.
JPI built the 400-unit apartment project in 2017; it is at 1781 S. Campton Ave., just north of Katella Avenue.
Waterford is also project sponsor for the just-completed deal.
