Terms of the sale were undisclosed, but the buyers bought at "a price which will allow us to offer these condominium homes at prices which meet the needs of the market," according to Bob Hart, president & CEO of Kennedy Wilson Multifamily Management Group, who led the Kennedy Wilson negotiating team. Hart says that the acquisition fits within the Beverly Hills-based company's strategy of "acquiring under-performing assets with value-added potential in supply constrained urban markets."
The Mercury features 16 floor plans of one and two bedrooms, with one of its selling points listed as its unobstructed views of the Hollywood Hills, Downtown Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. The condominiums are built over two stories of retail space leased to such tenants as Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Jamba Juice and Wachovia Bank.
Forest City sold 89 units at the Mercury before the sale of the remainder of the project to the Kennedy Wilson partnership. Under the new ownership, sales of the units will be handled by an on-site team from Brandon Park & Associates overseen by Kennedy Wilson Residential Investments & Development. According to senior managing director Stuart Cramer, the condominiums will be priced from the low $200,000's to the high $700,000's.
With the closing of the Mercury deal, Kennedy Wilson and Guardian have now collaborated on five projects in the past year, according to Kennedy Wilson chairman William McMorrow. McMorrow pointed out that, with the acquisition of the Mercury, his company has purchased projects containing more than 1,000 for-sale housing units with a value of $250 million over the same 12-month period.
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