A healthy amount of acquisitions across the country over the past year has vaulted Irvine-based Steadfast Cos. into the ranks of the largest owners of apartments in the U.S.
The investor now is believed to be the 40th largest owner of apartments in the U.S., according to a new report by the National Multifamily Housing Council.
The report estimated Steadfast and its affiliates own 28,709 apartment units, up more than 3,000 units from a year ago.
The company’s website lists four Orange County apartment complexes to its name; a substantial portion of its rental holdings are outside California. It is Steadfast’s first time on the council’s listing of the top 50 apartment owners.
WNC & Associates Inc., an Irvine-based owner of affordable apartment projects across the country, is the highest-ranked local company on the list, checking in at No. 19 with 51,865 units.
The list has one notable omission: Newport Beach-based Irvine Company, which is believed to have an apartment portfolio in California topping 50,000 units. The company ranked in the top 25 on prior editions of the council’s annual listing. A reason for its exclusion wasn’t disclosed.
Steadfast continues to be an active buyer of complexes. One of two nontraded real estate investment trusts that the company runs announced this month that it had paid $80.8 million for a trio of complexes in Indiana and Illinois totaling 643 apartments.
That nontraded REIT, called Steadfast Apartment REIT, has raised nearly $240 million from investors and has bought 12 apartment complexes in seven Midwestern and Southern states for a total of $430 million.
Cypress Sale
Patrick Cadigan, one of OC’s largest private real estate investors, has added an apartment complex in Cypress to his local portfolio.
He recently acquired the 136-unit Peppertree Apartments near Cypress College.
The project, near the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Holder Street, traded hands for $31.1 million, or nearly $229,000 per unit, according to data from CoStar Group Inc.
An affiliate of Denver-based AIMCO Properties LP sold the complex, which was built in 1971 and is about 105,000 square feet.
The buyer got a $21.5 million loan from JP Morgan Chase Bank to fund the purchase.
The acquisition adds to an extensive apartment portfolio in Orange County for Cadigan, a Corona del Mar resident. He’s the former chief executive of Electronic Engineering Company of California, one of OC’s first electronics manufacturers.
His apartment holdings in OC are believed to run close to 2,000 units.
Anaheim Lease
The former Anaheim headquarters of carmaker Fisker Automotive and Technologies Group Inc. has landed a large tenant for a portion of the 156,000-square-foot building.
Paris-based aerospace, security and defense company Safran has inked a nearly 86,000-square-foot lease for 5515 E. La Palma Ave., a two-story office near the Riverside (91) Freeway and Imperial (90) Highway.
The company is scheduled to move into the building in July. The deal is one of the largest office leases in North Orange County so far this year, according to local brokerage data.
Safran’s plans for the office haven’t been disclosed. One company it owns with local operations in Orange County is MorphoTrak, a maker of biometric technologies for fingerprint, iris and facial recognition.
MorphoTrak currently has a location on North Tustin Avenue in Anaheim. CoStar records show the lease for that space running at about 84,000 square feet, expiring later this year.
