MONTEBELLO, CA-Investors from Larkspur, Calif. acquire the 256-unit Hensel Gardens apartment complex, a Cape Cod-style, 13-building property built in 1958. The seller is California Safety Center Corp.

LAKE FOREST, CA-NRCC Mortgage of Tustin, Calif. buys a newly completed, 21,336-sf office building here at 14 Orchard Rd., while RJM Holdings of Pebble Beach buys a 32,272-sf medical office building in Fountain Valley.

SANTA MONICA, CA-N&S Development obtains the financing for a five-unit townhome project in Santa Monica, where units are expected to sell for up to $950,000. The development is under construction and is slated for completion at the end of 2003.

LOS ANGELES, CA-Sales and leasing increased for the third consecutive quarter, according to a CB Richard Ellis report, which says rates dipped to 48 cents per sf per month, the first change in average asking rental rates since the third quarter of 2001.

PASADENA, CA-The Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based developer and Capital & Counties U.S.A. Inc. of San Francisco plan to break ground early next year on the project in Pasadena's Playhouse District.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA-The property is on what Hendricks & Partners' Joe Leon calls "a highly favorable ground lease" that never reappraises and includes the possibility of purchasing the land.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA-The city of Rancho Cucamonga's planning commission will formally consider design plans for the 1.3 million-sf Victoria Gardens mall on Nov. 13. The first of $20 million in infrastructure improvements is already under construction.

LOS ANGELES, CA-Sales and leasing increased for the third consecutive quarter, according to a CB Richard Ellis report, which says rates dipped to 48 cents per sf per month, the first change in average asking rental rates since the third quarter of 2001.