Two Condo Conversion Properties Command $56M

GLENDALE, CA-Private investment group Cedar Management of Los Angeles has acquired the 127-unit Grand Villas and the 96-unit Penn Villas apartment complexes for $56 million from two different sellers and plans to convert the properties to condominiums, Laurie Lustig-Bower of Team Lustig-Bower at CB Richard Ellis tells GlobeSt.com. Team Lustig-Bower brokered the sales of the two complexes, and Lustig-Bower notes that both properties included final tract maps for condo conversions.Team Lustig-Bower represented Glendale Partners LLC, the seller in the Grand Villas transaction, as well as Altura 96 LLC, the seller of the Penn Villas. The Grand Villas is at 1717 N. Verdugo Rd. and Penn Villas at 3220 Altura Ave.The Grand Villas, which was built in 1965 and was extensively renovated over the past five years, sold for $36 million. The Penn Villas, which was built in 1977, sold for $20.25 million.Lustig-Bower tells GlobeSt.com that Cedar Management is already getting its sales program under way for the condos. The sales of the two buildings continue the brisk pace of condo deals in Los Angeles County that Lustig-Bower commented on to GlobeSt.com in an interview regarding several of the CBRE team's previous condo conversion deals late last year.The head of Team Lustig-Bower pointed out that in one 18-month period from the beginning of 2003 to the middle of 2004, condo prices shot up on the Westside of Los Angeles by 25%. Prices are also rising in places like the Tri-Cities markets of Glendale, Pasadena and Burbank, especially in places like the Glendale Foothills where the Grand Villas is located.Just a few days ago, GlobeSt.com reported that a 23-unit apartment complex in Pasadena sold for $7.2 million in a condo conversion deal. As Lustig-Bower points out, the best candidates for conversion are apartment complexes with a final condo tract map in place.