A recently built apartment complex in Anaheim’s Platinum Triangle has traded hands, and the project’s new owner plans to build more apartments on adjacent land.
The 92-unit Vivere at 1331 E. Katella Ave. recently sold for just less than $38 million.
Urban Partners LLC—a Los Angeles-based investment, development and management company—bought the property, which opened in 2011 and is about half a mile from Angel Stadium.
The sale price included two vacant parcels of entitled land at the rear of the existing Vivere complex, totaling 3.3 acres. The undeveloped land is entitled for another 244 apartments.
Area Property Partners of New York also is an investor in the property, according to Urban Partners.
Urban Partners is looking to break ground on more apartments at the recently acquired site early next year, according to brokers with Phoenix-based Hendricks & Partners Inc. who worked on the deal.
Vivere is believed to be the only Orange County project currently owned by Urban Partners, a privately held company that focuses on mixed-use properties on the West Coast.
L.A. Deal
The company made headlines in November by selling a 1,656-bed dormitory across from the University of Southern California’s campus in Los Angeles for a reported $204 million.
That deal is believed to be the highest price paid in at least a decade for a single student-housing property.
The Vivere purchase marks the latest big-dollar apartment-related sale reported in the Platinum Triangle, the 820-acre commercial area surrounding Angel Stadium.
Property and land sales valued at close to $120 million on a combined basis have closed in the Platinum Triangle since October, or are scheduled to close soon, according to real estate sources. Most of that land is expected to be turned into for-rent housing.
New Inventory
The sale of those properties—including the land immediately next to Vivere on Katella Avenue that’s the site of long-time area restaurant Mr. Stox—is expected to result in nearly 1,800 new apartments being built in the next few years.
That would nearly double the amount of apartments and condos that have been built in the Platinum Triangle over the past five or so years.
The next phases of the Vivere development could be the first of the recently sold sites to break to ground next year, said David Andrews, a broker in the San Diego office of Hendricks & Partners.
Urban Partners “wants to break ground as soon as they can,” Andrews said. “They’re very bullish on the area.”
No Signs
The market for apartment sales, and development, shows no signs of letting up in Orange County, said Shane Shafer, a broker in the Newport Beach office of Hendricks & Partners.
“Now that we’re seeing some good rent growth, there’s a lot of stalled projects that could move ahead,” Shafer said.
Larger OC apartment complexes count a vacancy rate of about 4.7%, down about 60 basis points from year-ago levels, according to the brokerage’s third-quarter data.
Monthly rents in the county now run an average of $1,616, up 1.1% from a quarter ago.
Linchpin
The largest of the stalled projects in the Platinum Triangle is Lennar Corp.’s proposed A-Town Metro development, which sits across the street from the Vivere complex.
That development—which could hold more than 2,600 homes, along with shops, restaurants and other buildings—has been on hold for close to five years. Lennar hasn’t disclosed a timetable for moving ahead on the nearly 40-acre site.
“Once that project goes (ahead), it could be the linchpin for the whole area,” Shafer said.
Macquarie Unit
A unit of Australia-based Macquarie Group Ltd. sold Vivere and the 3.3 acres of undeveloped land to Urban Partners and Area Property Partners.
Prior to Macquarie, the site was owned by Los Angeles-based West Millennium Homes. The property, initially expected to be a 336-unit condominium project called Dwell@Katella, was placed into receivership in 2009 as the builder fell into bankruptcy.
Macquarie took over the property in 2010, converted the project to apartments and finished the first 92 homes at the development the following year.
The apartments at Vivere range in size from 743 to 1,962 square feet. The complex includes a business and fitness center, clubhouse and a resort-style pool and spa, among other amenities.
