NY Buyer Pays Nearly $40M for Museum Gardens

LOS ANGELES-Black Rock Realty of New York has acquired the 94-unit Museum Gardens apartment complex, which features 4,000 sf of retail space and two levels of parking, from Chandler Partners and Ameriton Properties for $39.5 million. The property is a class A mixed-use project at 5353 Wilshire Blvd. in the Miracle Mile-Museum Square district.Black Rock bought the property from Chandler Partners and Ameriton Properties in a transaction brokered by Curtis Palmer, Herb Chase and Alex Quintana of Transwestern Commercial Services' Transwestern Multi Housing Capital Advisors. Occupying more than an acre, Museum Gardens includes four residential floors totaling 84,891 sf. Retail tenants include Subway, Robeks and Starbucks.The Museum Gardens complex amenities include two fitness centers, a business center, an outdoor lap pool/tanning deck, rooftop spa and barbeques. The complex consists of two buildings with gated garages.Palmer says a big part of the property's appeal to the buyers was its "superb location" in a neighborhood where the barriers to entry are high because of "fast-rising land and construction costs and a scarcity of developable sites." The apartments are close to office buildings that are home to countless media companies, advertising agencies, law firms, talent agencies and leading entertainment firms, including Sony, CBS, Nickelodeon, Lasky-Sxupo, Sunset-Gower and Raleigh Studios.The complex also appealed to prospective buyers, according to the Transwestern brokers, because of the nearby high-density residential neighborhoods and major employment centers in the Miracle Mile district, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and CenturyCity.