La Mesa is Gaining Ascendancy in the SD Market

Gibney: “We saw a [transaction-volume] slowdown following the election and into this year, but since the summer it has really ticked up, particularly in San Diego.”

LA MESA, CA—As multifamily residents get priced out of infill coastal markets close to Downtown San Diego and the beach communities, they have been moving out to areas like La Mesa, CA, to gain more value for their home, Interstate Equities Corp.’s senior acquisitions associate Brendan Gibney tells GlobeSt.com. The firm recently moved into the San Diego market with the $33.4-million acquisition of a 133-unit, value-add multifamily asset in La Mesa on behalf of the firm’s IEC Institutional Fund III L.P., a fully discretionary, $200-million commingled fund targeting value-add multifamily investments throughout coastal California.

Marshall Boyd, co-president and chief investment officer of IEC said, in a prepared statement, “Entering the San Diego market is a natural progression for our firm’s investment platform.” He said the firm specializes in acquiring unrenovated or partially renovated assets in coastal infill markets in the Bay Area and top markets in Southern California. “Over the years, as our firm has researched San Diego, we came to recognize the San Diego multifamily market is operationally resilient and has many similar characteristics to our best markets.”

Built in 1976, Verse La Mesa, which IEC will rebrand as the Cove, will undergo interior renovations including the installation of washers/dryers and dishwashers, new paint, laminate wood floors and upgraded fixtures throughout the units.