Western National Closes $50M Fund

IRVINE, CA-Western National Realty Advisors has closed on its $50-million Western National Realty Advisors' Fund I, which it has established as part of the company's plans to expand from its current 13,000 owned multifamily units to 25,000 units over the next five to six years. The closing was the third and final for the fund, according to Michael K. Hayde, CEO of Western National Group, the parent company of Western National Realty Advisors.The fund, which completed its first closing in April, has already invested in multifamily acquisition and development projects, including the 133-unit Monterra Apartments in Anaheim and a parcel of land in Northridge where Western plans a 202-unit project.Before it created Fund I, 42-year-old Western National acquired and developed its properties from equity raised from a number of different sources. It established the fund to accelerate its pace of acquisitions and to create a diversified apartment portfolio.Participants in Fund I consist of individual investors who are targeting the Southern California apartment market, Hayde notes. He says that the company in the future may include a mix of individual and institutional investors in a new fund.In addition to increasing the number of units it owns, Western National has embarked on a plan to increase the number of units it manages from its current 23,000 up to as many as 35,000. The company manages the units through Western National Property Management and also builds complexes through its Western National Contractors, which also builds for some third-party owners and completes capital improvements on Western National's own properties.