[IMGCAP(2)]In the Arbors at Warner Center deal, a joint venture of San Francisco-based Swig Co. LLC and an institutional real estate investment fund managed by Capmark Investments LP acquired the property in a direct deal between buyer and seller. Mitch Thurston and Andy Ahlers of Capmark Finance Inc.'s San Francisco office originated a new first mortgage for the acquisition through Freddie Mac's CME multifamily loan program. Investors Property Services of Foothill Ranch in Orange County will handle the day-to-day property management of the Arbors.
According to Ken Perry, the Swig Co.'s chief investment officer, the acqusition enabled the San Francisco-based firm to "acquire a good institutional-quality residential community at a basis that should minimize our downside exposure and allow for great cash flow and potential upside as the economy and the local market recover." Perry adds that, "This one-off investment in a multifamily residential property is clearly a departure from our business plan goal of acquiring additional urban office buildings." However, he said, the investment in the Arbors creates additional product-type and geographical diversity for the Swig Co. portfolio.
The Arbors represents the Swig Co.'s second major real estate holding in Southern California along with the Arco Center office complex in Long Beach. The Swig Co. and Capmark are also partners in the $200 million Kaiser Center project located on Lake Merritt in Downtown Oakland.
In the Los Angeles REO transaction, Grubb & Ellis Financial Services Asset Management Group reports that SA Properties Holding LLC acquired the Flat, which was 93% occupied at the time of the sale, from Chinatrust Bank USA in al all-cash deal. The Flat was an REO apartment conversion that the bank took ownership of in September.
The Flat constitutes one of the largest real-estate-owned investment sales transactions in 2009, according to the Grubb & Ellis team that represented Chinatrust Bank in the disposition. The team included senior vice presidents Phillip Sample and Chris Cooney as the lead brokers, assisted by senior vice president Chris Caras, senior associate Sandi Mann, senior vice president Mike Shustak and vice president Ed Rosenthal.
Navigating the foreclosure, bankruptcy and subsequent sale of the asset was "extremely complicated," according to Sample. Adding to the complexities of the transactions was the bank's goal of closing the transaction before the end of the third quarter, Sample notes.
Having a buyer with the ability to quickly close all-cash on the complex asset was a key to the successful close of the deal, he adds. Buyer SA Properties Holdings was represented internally by managing partner Sonya Moreno.
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