Jerry Fink, a Bascom managing director, explains to GlobeSt.com that the former Bascom partnership, Tennis Club Apartments LLC, bought the complex for a shorter-term hold and spent about $2.9 million renovating the property at 22100 Erwin St. in the year 2000. Bascom's partner in the Tennis Club partnership was a Wall Street firm, he says, while its joint venture partner in the new purchase is a pension fund.

"The new partner is interested in more of a long-term hold," Fink tells GlobeSt.com. He says the new ownership plans additional renovations that will upgrade the property to "about an A-" from what he says is now B or B+ status.

The new Bascom entity secured debt financing for the transaction through the LA office of Springfield, MA-based DL Babson/Mass Mutual. Gary Mozer and Lee Norman of George Smith Partners in Los Angeles arranged the loan.

Built in 1968, the Renaissance property is 95% occupied and consists of six four-story buildings with junior, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments that average 916 sf. Rents range from $975 to $1,700 per month.

The complex features a recreation center, two swimming pools, two spas, tennis courts, barbeque, fitness center, covered parking, gated entry, six laundry facilities and 12 elevators. Units feature central air conditioning, ceiling fans, dishwashers, garbage disposals, balconies and patios. The second round of renovations will include upgraded unit interiors, a new roof, landscaping upgrades and other building system improvements.

The Bascom Group has been an active buyer of apartment properties throughout Southern California region over the past seven years and has closed over 8,000 units to date in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego and Riverside counties as well as the Central California Valley and Hawaii. Co-founders Fink, Derek Chen and David Kim established the company as a private equity fund in 1996.

In addition to its apartment portfolio, Bascom has acquired approximately three million sf of industrial buildings in Southern California in a joint venture with the Magellan Group of Los Angeles. Bascom is one of the largest privately held owners of executive suites in the region through its wholly owned Premier Business Centers unit.