LOS ANGELES-Essex Property Trust has acquired the 165 apartmentsand 38,543 square feet of retail space in the historic garmentdistrict building Santee Court, which was constructed in 1912 wasconverted to residential use in an adaptive reuse project in 2004,for $31.1 million in an all-cash deal. Ron Harris of Marcus &Millichap, who represented the buyer and seller L&B RealtyAdvisors of Dallas along with Greg Harris of Marcus &Millichap, tells GlobeSt.com that the property generated eightoffers on an open-bid basis.

Santee Court, at 700-722 S. Los Angeles St. in Downtown LosAngeles, is designated as a historic structure and as such benefitsfrom the Mills Act, which grants tax reductions to owners of suchbuildings in exchange for the owner’s agreement to maintain thebuilding according to historic preservation standards.

Greg Harris says that the acquisition “provided Essex with thechance to acquire a significant interest in rapidly gentrifyingDowntown Los Angeles. Essex is planning on re-leasing the vacantretail space and anticipates operating Santee Court as a premierloft project for a long-term hold period.”