One of the largest multifamily transactions for Orange County in 2024 was recently completed, as The Bascom Group sold Horizon Apartment Homes in Santa Ana to Bridge Investment Group for $129.2 million.
Bridge Investment Group, a real estate investment company based in Salt Lake City, bought the 406-unit apartment complex for $318,227 per unit.
Acquiring residential properties is part of Bridge Investment Group’s overall strategy. The real estate investment firm also manages properties and specializes in renewable energy, industrial and residential leasing, logistics and developments in opportunity zones, per the company’s website.
The company released a statement in mid-October saying Bridge Investment Group, with $48.9 billion of assets under management as of June 30, and Ethos Real Estate would be working together “to preserve hundreds of apartment units at Horizon Apartments as affordable housing for the Santa Ana community.”
Horizon complex is located along Tustin Avenue, near the intersection of the Costa Mesa (55) and Garden Grove (22) freeways.
By unit count, it is the 9th-largest complex in the city of Santa Ana, according to Costar data.
A PE Firm Named After Wisconsin Hill
In 1996, Derek Chen, Jerome Fink and David Kim founded The Bascom Group LLC, which is named after a hill where the University of Wisconsin Business School sits and where the three went to college.
The private equity firm specializes in multifamily, commercial, non-performing loans and real estate related investments and operating companies. It has completed more than $20.7 billion in multifamily value-added transactions since 1996, including 350 multifamily community acquisitions and 90,000 units.
In 2017, Bascom Group bought the 406-unit multifamily complex, previously known as the Villas at Tustin, for $94 million ($232,000 per unit) from Waterton Residential.
The Bascom Group did not immediately respond to the Business Journal’s request for comment about the Horizon Apartment Homes sale.
A Snapshot of OC’s Multifamily Market
The Bascom Group’s sale of Horizon Apartment Homes is the largest apartment sale in Orange County this year, not counting multi-property portfolio sales, according to data from real estate market tracker CoStar.
Several multifamily properties in Orange County have changed hands for more than $100 million during the past two years, although total volume of sales dropped 90% between the second and third quarters of 2024, according to a CBRE report.
The second quarter of 2024 saw $567.9 million in sales for Orange County’s multifamily market, compared to $58.5 million for 2024’s third quarter.
The sale of Horizon Apartment Homes already exceeds the total sales volume for all of Orange County’s third quarter deals but isn’t as expensive as deals made in 2022 and 2023.
Huntington Beach-based A&M Properties bought Regency Palms Apartments at (6762 Warner Ave.) in Surf City for $120 million, or $409,667 per unit, in January, per CoStar data.
The 714-unit (Grand Costa Mesa at 2855 Pinecreek Drive) in Costa Mesa was bought by Irvine-based Advanced Costa Mesa 23 LLC for $232 million, or $324,930 per unit, in December 2023, according to CoStar.
CoStar data also shows Sherman Oaks-based IMT Residential buying a 348-unit apartment complex at (26033 Cape Drive) in Laguna Niguel for $153.3 million, or $440,374 per unit.
Horizon Apartment Homes, located at 2414 N. Tustin Ave. in Santa Ana, was built in 1972 and renovated in 2018. The apartment complex sits on 12.7 acres and features a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and townhome-style units.
