A Texas-based apartment investor is under contract to buy one of the largest remaining residential development sites in the Platinum Triangle area of Anaheim.
JPI/TDI Cos., an Irving, Texas-based developer that has one other Platinum Triangle apartment complex under construction, is nearing a deal to buy a 17.6-acre site at the intersection of State College Boulevard and Gene Autry Way.
The vacant site across the street from Angel Stadium is owned by San Francisco-based industrial developer Prologis Inc.
Prologis razed a business park at the site several years ago. In 2007, it got city approvals to build a 1,200-unit midrise residential project, shops and 100,000 square feet of office space there. The project stalled as the recession overwhelmed the market.
JPI/TDI is planning a scaled-down version of that initial development, which was previously known as The Experience at Gene Autry Way.
Plans recently filed with the city call for 826 apartments among four- and five-story buildings; 10,000 square feet of retail; and a 1.7-acre public park.
No office development is planned under the latest proposal, according to city officials.
The proposed development’s new name is Jefferson Stadium Park.
The city’s planning department is scheduled to make comments on the new plans this month.
Financial terms of the proposed deal between Prologis and JPI/TDI, and a time frame for the closing of the land sale, haven’t been disclosed.
Other Local Projects
In January the San Diego office of JPI/TDI Cos. announced it closed on a nearly 8-acre site near East Katella Avenue and State College Boulevard where it plans to build a 400-unit apartment complex. That project, called Jefferson Platinum Triangle, is scheduled to open next summer.
The project will cost $119 million to build, according to the developer.
Regulatory filings show the company paid about $24 million, or a little under $3.2 million per acre, for the land.
A similar acreage price would put the company’s pending acquisition of the Prologis site at about $56 million.
A time frame for construction at Jefferson Stadium Park hasn’t been disclosed. The 17.6-acre site is the second largest remaining residential development planned for the 820-acre Platinum Triangle, an area where about 2,000 apartments have been built over the past four years, according to marketing materials for the Prologis site.
Lennar Corp.’s A-Town Metro site—which is just north of the land JPI/TDI is in the process of buying—has entitlement for 2,681 homes and is the largest remaining property available in the area for residential development.
JPI/TDI’s midrise apartment proposal comes a few months after an affiliate of Hong Kong-based LT Commercial Real Estate Ltd. filed early-stage plans to build a massive mixed-use project on a little more than 14 acres it owns at the northeast corner of State College Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue.
The LTG Platinum Center would include a mix of condos, apartments, retail, and a hotel, among other features, as well as a few high-rise buildings.
LT Commercial, whose U.S. operations are based in Los Angeles, bought the land last year for a reported $28.4 million, or a little more than $2 million an acre.
JPI/TDI Cos. also relies on foreign investors. It’s been using EB-5 visa investments for a good portion of its latest slate of apartment development in the U.S.
The EB-5 visa, also known as the Immigrant Investor Program, is a federal initiative administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It allows foreigners to apply for permanent residency in the U.S. in exchange for investing $1 million in a U.S. business that could generate a minimum of 10 full-time jobs within two years of the investor’s admission to the U.S.
The Jefferson Platinum Triangle development is 25% funded through $30 million in EB-5 investments, according to company marketing materials.
