California Home Builders Buys Playa Vista Multifamily for $231M
Mill Creek trades 376-unit building for seven times what it paid for it in 2014.
California Home Builders has acquired a 376-unit apartment complex in Playa Vista for $230M, which translates into about $614K per unit. Morgan Stanley provided a $173M loan for the purchase.
Boca Raton, FL-based Mill Creek Residential sold the multifamily, which is located at 5901 Center Drive. Mill Creek sold the property for more than seven times the $32M it paid for the apartment building in 2014. The company also renovated the units.
California Home Builders’ portfolio includes 13 developments in Los Angeles as well as properties in Woodland Hills and Canoga Park. The Canoga Park-based developer specializes in building residential units, branding its housing projects under the letter Q.
Last month, California Home Builders broke ground on a 359-unit complex, known as Q De Soto in Woodland Hills. The seven-story, mixed-use complex at 6109 North De Soto Avenue replaced a single-story office park near Pierce Collate.
The Q De Soto, which will include nearly 70K SF of offices, shops and restaurants on a 3.7-acre site on the edge of Warner Center, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.
California Home Builders also has under construction in Woodland Hills a 259-unit complex known as The Q at Erwin.
Rents at the Playa Vista apartment complex purchased by the company range from $3,000 to $5,100 per month for a one-bedroom and $6,000 for a three-bedroom apartment.
The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Playa Vista is $3,563, according to RentCafe. Playa Vista is about a mile east of Playa Del Rey Beach near Los Angeles International Airport.
Occupancies and rents in the Los Angeles multifamily market have hit record levels this year. Occupancy through the first half of 2022 closed out at 96.7%, a level not seen in more than 15 years, according to Colliers Q2 market report.
During the pandemic lockdowns at 2020, multifamily occupancy levels in Los Angeles dropped to 94%. Since that time, multifamily occupancy has grown 250 basis points.
Effective rent per unit in LA is now 8.6% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Despite rising interest rates, multifamily sales volume was $6.5B in H1 2022, with 34,000 units under construction. The average sale price is now 9% higher than it was a year ago and 45% higher compared to five years ago, Colliers said.