SANTA BARBARA, CA-Essex Properties Trust of Palo Alto has
acquired two apartment complexes totaling 108 units for $21.15
million, according to Hendricks & Partners. The Northern
California-based apartment REIT bought the properties from
Universe at Hope Ranch LLC of Beverly Hills through Essex
Portfolio LP in a deal that was brokered by Dean Zander of
the Los Angeles office of Hendricks & Partners.
The properties
include the 38-unit Continental Apartments at 3968-3974 Via
Lucero and the 70-unit Lucero Village at 3999 Via Lucero.
Zander reports that Essex plans further upgrades to both the
units and the common areas at the apartments, which have already
been improved through a capital improvements program that
the seller had in effect for the last few years.
In addition,
Zander points out, the two properties represent hard-to-replace
assets in a submarket where the vacancy rate averages less
than 2% and the restrictions on development of new properties
have greatly limited the supply of new units. The limits on
new supply, in turn, have kept the area's vacancies low and
have produced strong rent growth.
The Continental
Apartments consists of two individually deeded 19-unit buildings
on two parcels of land totaling one acre. Each building features
a landscaped courtyard in an open garden setting.
The apartments
at the Continental feature a mix of studios, one-bedroom and
two-bedroom apartments. The units average 500 sf for the studios,
750 sf for the one-bedrooms and 1,100 sf for the three-bedrooms,
which are townhouse-style units.
The Lucero
Village property was built in 1973 and consists of three buildings
plus a rental office situated on more than 1.5 acres. All
of the apartments are one-bedroom, one-bath units that average
515 sf.
