Western National Nears Finish on 195 Units

[IMGCAP(1)]IRVINE, CA-Western National Properties, an affiliate of Irvine-based Western National Group, is nearing completion on construction of its 195-unit Enclave at Warner Center apartment complex, one of the relatively few new ground-up luxury apartment projects under construction in Southern California today. Rex F. DeLong, president of Western National Properties, tells GlobeSt.com that the company expects to have the building at 6710 Variel Ave. in Woodland Hills available for first move-ins in December.

[IMGCAP(2)]The Enclave is the first development with the firm’s second private equity fund, Western National Realty Fund II LP. The ground-up development, which takes the place of a couple of older office and industrial buildings that were razed to make room for the project before Western National began construction of the new complex in the spring of 2008, consists of a four-story apartment building wrapped around a five-and-a-half story parking structure.

DeLong says that Western National estimates a lease-up period of about 11 months for the new complex, which is the same lease-up period that the company planned in its original pro forma. The company hasn’t established the rents, but it’s thinking that they will be in the neighborhood of $1,500 and $2,000, which is what the market is for comparable product right now.

The Enclave’s 195 apartments will include 118 one-bedroom units ranging from 610 square feet to 730 square feet and 77 two-bedroom units ranging from 1,020 to 1,125 square feet, offered in a variety of floor plans. Amenities will include a resident business center, a swimming pool and spa with cabanas, a movie theater, a fitness center and a resident lounge with a kitchen and media room.

The Enclave follows another San Fernando Valley project that Western National Properties developed, Meridian Place Apartments in Northridge, which opened last year. The company also broke ground recently on a 315-unit complex in Salt Lake City. The properties are managed by Western National Property Management, which manages both Western National and third-party properties.

The Fund II that is developing the Enclave is Western National Properties’ second private equity fund with more than $200 million of equity commitments. Fund II is focused solely on multifamily acquisitions and development projects. It includes both institutional and individual high net-worth investors.

Western National Properties and Western National Property Management are part of Western National Group, a 45-year-old integrated multifamily acquisition, development, construction and property management firm that is the umbrella over five separate entities. The other three are Western National Contractors, the construction arm; Multifamily Ancillary Group, which specializes in optimizing ancillary income for owners; and Resident Group Services, the landscaping and appliance services and rental arm.