Villa Milano Spends $6 million, Plans Condo Conversion

LA JOLLA, CA-Further strengthening the condo conversion craze in the San Diego area, Villa Milano LP and CFRA Inc. have acquired the 12-unit Villa Marine Apartments for $6 million and plan to begin converting the units immediately. The two-story, 11,400-sf apartment was constructed on a one-third-acre lot in 1964 and acquired in September 2002 by Rubin & Associates for $2.85 million. “We bought it two years ago and put a condo map on the property,” says Craig Rubin, a principal with Rubin & Associates, “but we’re not condo converters, traditionally, we’re apartment owners who look to sell.”The apartment consists of two three-bedroom, two-bath units; eight two-bedroom, two-bath units; and two one-bedroom units. The units range from 722 sf to 1,304 sf. “It’s among the highest price per unit in this area at $500,000 per unit,” says Rubin. Once converted, it’s estimated the units will fetch from roughly $578,000 to $993,000 for a total of $8.77 million.Such continued activity belies reports that the condo conversion market has become oversaturated. As reported earlier on Globest.com, Susan Hudson-Wilson, founder and CEO of independent research and advisory firm Property & Portfolio Research Inc. told an audience recently at the 2004 NAIOP annual conference held in San Diego to look out for a slump in the multifamily market. The run on condominiums, according to Hudson-Wilson, has “protracted the bust in the apartment market, but the bust will come.”Rubin tells Globest.com that he and his partners don’t see that bust coming anytime soon. “We’re taking the money from the Villa Marine sale and will look to acquire more apartments for conversion deals,” Rubin says.Inland Mortgage Corp. of Illinois financed the transaction with a loan of $6.5 million. Rubin represented the buyer in the deal as well as the sellers, which included himself, Budd & Joanne Rubin, Ken & Gina Rubin, Gary Rubin and David Lepre.