Beverly Hills-based real estate investor Kennedy Wilson has snapped up a 277-unit apartment complex in Huntington Beach in what looks to be Orange County’s priciest apartment sale so far this year.
The company said late last month that it and its partners paid about $67.5 million for Via Verde, a complex totaling about 269,000 square feet a few blocks from the Bella Terra shopping center.
The sale works out to a price of about $244,000 per unit.
The complex was listed for sale earlier this year at an asking price of $75.5 million, according to brokerage data.
An affiliate of Long Beach-based NNC Apartment Ventures LLC sold the Huntington Beach complex, which previously operated under the Seawind Villages name.
Kennedy Wilson said it financed part of the Via Verde deal with a $47.8 million, 10-year loan on the property from Freddie Mac at about 3.6%.
The new owner plans to put an additional $3.5 million into the complex, which was built in 1977 and has apartments averaging about 992 square feet.
The property is at 15555 Huntington Village Lane, less than a block from the San Diego (405) Freeway.
“The nearby 800,000-square-foot Bella Terra lifestyle mall and the new Costco will drive tremendous traffic to Via Verde, and we plan to position the property into one of Huntington Beach’s top active lifestyle rental communities,” said Robert Hart, president of Kennedy Wilson’s multifamily division.
Kennedy Wilson acquired $889 million of real estate and loans last quarter, the company said.
The company’s last big deal in OC was a sale, for a 286-unit Anaheim apartment complex that traded hands last year for $43 million.
Before the Via Verde sale, the priciest deal for an existing apartment complex in OC this year was the $55 million sale of the Whispering Winds complex in San Clemente.
The 250-unit apartment project changed hands in February for about $220,000 per unit, as part of a larger portfolio sale.
Money to Spend
CapRock Partners LLC, an Irvine-based industrial investor, is on the hunt for acquisitions after landing $25 million in new financing.
Tustin-based Bridgeport Investments, a boutique real estate investment banking and advisory company, said it recently secured the equity financing from an institutional investor for privately held CapRock, a company it has partnered with before.
CapRock has the capability to buy between $50 and $60 million worth of properties with the money, according to Bridgeport officials.
The firm’s first purchase using the new financing is said to be a 75,000-square-foot multitenant business park in Santa Ana. Details of that deal weren’t disclosed.
CapRock typically makes deals in the $3 million-to-$15 million range.
The financing ensures “that our client has the ability to complete all-cash transactions and to purchase properties at foreclosure sales,” said Randy Bramel, founder of Bridgeport.
The two companies worked together last year, when Bridgeport arranged a $12.5 million investment that helped CapRock buy a six-building portfolio of distressed local industrial buildings in Southern California.
CapRock will use the remaining money from the latest round of funding to buy industrial-focused properties in California, including buildings, land and nonperforming loans.
Bridgeport has financed more than $1.6 billion in real estate deals since 2003. The company’s three principals are Randy Bramel, his son Chris Bramel, and Paul Conzelman.
Airport Arrivals
Irvine-based R.D. Olson Development has finished up work building a $30 million Courtyard by Marriott Maui, the Hawaiian island’s first Kahului airport hotel.
Construction on the 138-unit hotel began last year after being put on hold a few years amid the recession.
“The hotel’s location will attract travelers transiting the airport and those that visit the island’s North Shore for its activities and sights,” said Bob Olson, chief executive of the development company.
R.D. Olson is retaining ownership of the land and the hotel, while Marriott International will manage the four-story hotel.
Closer to home, Olson’s construction arm, R.D. Olson Construction, has completed work on a Natural Break restaurant it was contracted to build at Los Angeles International Airport, as part of a modernization project at LAX.
Two other LAX restaurants Olson is building—a Carl’s Jr. and Corona Beach House Café—should finish up work this month, according to the company.
