LOS ANGELES-Two buyers have paid approximately $16 million for 81 apartment units on the Westside of Los Angeles in two separate deals that have closed recently, according to the buyers and their brokers. In one transaction, Sherman Oaks-based M West Holdings reports that it acquired 60 units in the Westside community of Palms. In the other, 10th Street Partners LLC bought 21 units in Santa Monica in a sale brokered by Colliers International that traded at a cap rate of 4.11%.

The M West acquisition is at 10705-10725 Rose Ave., a complex of four two-story garden-style apartment buildings. According to industry sources, M West acquired the property from Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises, which bought it in 2006 in a joint venture with Sebren Development, according to a GlobeSt.com report at the time. M West says it will rebrand the complex as Pacific Rose Apartments to highlight its Rose Avenue location, one of the most desirable streets in Palms, which M West describes as "an affordable, middle class, mostly rental housing Westside community, with excellent neighborhood shopping available."

The deal "reflects M West Holdings' strategy to acquire Southern California multifamily properties located in stable, infill markets," the Sherman Oaks-based company says in a news release. The property features two landscaped courtyards, an onsite leasing office, and over 156 linear feet of frontage on Overland Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares connecting Westwood to Culver City.

Apartment fundamentals "have remained very strong in Palms, and this trend is expected to continue into the foreseeable future," M West says. It cites the close proximity to the ocean, excellent access to the I-10 and I-405 transportation corridors and LAX combined with strong employment and the high quality of life enjoyed on the Westside―which combine for a vacancy rate in Palms that is 3.8%, compared to the Los Angeles average of 5.3%.

M West senior vice president Matthew Ellis notes that the acquisition is one of two off-market transactions that the company has closed in recent months. It has retained Virtu Property Management as property manager, with M West to asset-manage the property from its Sherman Oaks headquarters. Terms of the sale were undisclosed, but M West is believed to have paid north of $11 million for the complex.

Darin Beebower of Madison Partners sourced and facilitated the off-market transaction for M West, and Trevor Brotman of Wells Fargo provided the Fannie Mae financing package.

Karl Slovin, M West Holdings' president, comments regarding the deal: "Assets in this submarket and of this size rarely come to market, and when they do they generate significant interest. Pacific Rose will provide M West an excellent opportunity to re-enter a market we are passionate about. Multifamily housing has always been the backbone of our portfolio, as it's where we started in 1991. We strongly believe in the long-term viability of urban, in-fill Los Angeles, which like our other major multifamily market, New York City, will always be vibrant and desirable."

In the Santa Monica transaction, Colliers International reports that 10th Street Partners acquired the 21-unit Villa Cordova apartment building at 1133 10th St. from Villa Cordova Associates LLC for more than $5.7 million at a cap rate of 4.11% and a gross rent multiplier of 15.59. Colliers EVP Kitty Wallace in the company's Downtown Los Angeles office, who represented both the buyer and the seller, points out that Villa Cordova is a rent-controlled building with rents at 20% below market at the close of the sale.

The buyer plans to renovate the property and raise rents to market level, starting with building’s nine vacant units. Built in 1970, Villa Cordova is a two-story building situated north of Wilshire Boulevard. Wallace notes that the property "has only had two owners in its history, which is rare for a building constructed in the 1970s."