Investor Scores on Rare Value-Add Apartments

SANTA MONICA, CA—A rare value-add apartment complex has traded hands in Santa Monica. Acting as a sponsor for an unnamed local investor, Optimus Properties purchased the 25-unit oceanfront apartment complex from a family trust for $15.56 million in an all-cash transaction. The seller, who had owned the property since the 1980s, sold the complex as part of a court order.

“We not only had a Santa Monica address but an Ocean Avenue address,” Kitty Wallace, of Colliers International, who, along with her sales team, represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction, tells GlobeSt.com. “Properties on the ocean with an unobstructed view don’t trade very often. You could say that this was one of the most rare sights in all of the US.” As a result, Wallace got a tremendous amount of interest on the property, receiving upwards of 100 calls per day from the start of the marketing process through closing, totaling thousands of potential buyers. “It was interesting because we went to the market un-priced, and we got a few offers that were really low,” she says. “Once we started developing a range, we went through cycles and kept raising the bar. We did it that way, because, honestly, I could have received 500 offers.”