Pacific says it will invest in excess of $1 million to reposition the property, which will be renamed "Waterstone at Murrieta."

This is the first deal closed under the new joint venture formed by Pacific Property and GE Real Estate to acquire apartment properties on the West Coast. Wachovia Securities' Structured Finance Group wrote the senior debt on the transaction. The sale was brokered by Mark Jacques of Remax Commercial in Newport Beach, who represented both parties.

Pacific's acquisition manager, Rory Gardner, detailed the firm's interest in the property. Los Alamos is an institutional quality asset that the five-year-old firm acquired at a significant discount to replacement cost, he says. The property, which is at 24850 Hancock Ave., features washers and dryers in each unit, two pools, a fitness center, and two recreation rooms. In addition, Pacific plans to improve the property's curb appeal with upgrades that it expects to translate into significant short-term rental rate increases. The complex is part of the Murrieta-Temecula apartment market, which offers excellent long-term prospects; benefiting from housing costs that are affordable relative to neighboring communities, while at the same time rapidly adding a local employment base," Gardner says.

Constructed in 1990, the apartment complex occupies a 20.5-acre site, which Stratus Real Estate will manage for Pacific.

Pacific's president, Alfred Pace, notes that besides entering the Inland Empire market, the company has expanded its investment focus into both San Diego and Ventura County in the past 10 months, in which it has acquired nine Southern California properties in transactions valued in excess of $225 million.