The tallest residential complex in Orange County is returning to its roots.
The Skyline apartment complex in the South Coast Plaza area of Santa Ana, which counts a pair of 25-story towers totaling 350 units, has begun marketing a select number of units at the complex for sale.
Dubbed Skyline OC by its new owner, Miami-based Crescent Heights, the for-sale project features a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, along with some penthouses. Amenities at the complex include a “resort-style pool and spa,” along with “a fully equipped fitness center, yoga studio, and inviting lounges,” and offers an acre of outdoor living space, according to marketing materials for the property.
The website for the Skyline OC says some units at the complex will start around $600,000; brokers peg the higher-end units at the complex to approach $3 million, with HOA dues starting around $1,100 per month.
Current listings on Zillow show a handful of units for sale, ranging from $851,000 to a little over $1.3 million.
Top Rental Sale
Crescent Heights bought the complex, previously known as Essex Skyline, in April for a reported $239.6 million, marking the priciest local apartment complex sale of the past year.
It’s one of only a handful of rental properties in OC to have traded for over $200 million.
The deal, made with San Mateo-based Essex Property Trust Inc., worked out to a price of just under $685,000 per unit.
A conversion from for-rent units had been expected; Crescent Heights is known for its portfolio of luxury, for-sale residential projects across the U.S. The Skyline towers, located next to the Hutton Centre office campus near the intersection of San Diego (405) and Costa Mesa (55) freeways, is the only local project currently in its portfolio.
The company got its start in the late 1980s, with a number of deals along Crescent Heights Boulevard in Los Angeles, before later moving its HQ to Miami.
A marketing banner for the for-sale units was recently added to the exterior of the towers.
Initial Condo Plans
Skyline was built in 2008 by Nexus Development, the Santa Ana firm led by Curt Oldon that’s made its mark of late by building the upscale Vivante senior living communities in Newport Center and Costa Mesa.
The twin 25-floor residential towers reportedly cost about $350 million to build, and were originally slated to be a condominium project. The Great Recession put the kibosh on that plan, and Nexus exited the project.
Essex took a stake in the property in 2010, in a deal that valued the complex around $128 million, and converted the residential towers from condos to rentals.
In 2012, Essex bought out its partner in the complex, in a deal that valued Skyline around $170 million.
Essex’s latest annual report said the Skyline towers counted a 94% occupancy rate, just prior to the sale to Crescent Heights. Units at the complex are no longer listed online as being available for rent.
