Essex Property Trust, Inc. recently added two more condominium communities to its portfolio of 144 apartment properties. One of them is the 115-unit building located on 416 Broadway in Glendale, which it acquired for $43 million. Essex Property Trust intends to manage the property as rental community. The Palo Alto-based company, which invests in apartment communities located in highly desirable, supply-constrained markets, has acquired 12 communities for approximately $584 million so far in 2010. “These acquisitions further our strategy to allocate capital to markets we believe will outperform in the coming years as supply pipelines diminish and job growth continues,” said President and CEO, Keith R. Guericke in a statement, following the announcement last week. “Additionally, these communities have the ability to be converted back into condominiums when the for-sale housing market recovers, increasing their return potential relative to traditional apartments,” he added. Currently the Glendale property – a four story building over two levels of parking – is 93 percent occupied. The building features one and two bedroom floor plans with the average unit size being 1,102 square feet. Rates Rising Although loan rates are still quite low historically, mortgage rates have been on an uptick for the past five weeks, which is making some people nervous. If you’re on the market for a house or looking to refinance you may want to act now. Mortgage rates have increased considerably since the end of November and we’re now going on six straight weeks of increasing interest rates. Mortgage rates had been dropping for most of this year reaching record lows this fall. The increase in interest rates reflects increasing confidence in the country’s economic recovery; however they also translate into higher monthly payments, making it harder for people to qualify for a loan. In the Mortgage Bankers Association‘s Weekly Mortgage Rate Survey the average contract mortgage rate on 30-year home mortgage loans increased to 4.85 percent for the week ending December 17. That was up from the previous week’s average year mortgage rate of 4.84 percent. In early November the rates were down to 4.17 percent. While two weeks ago 15-year home mortgage rates were below 4 percent, that number went up to 4.33 percent for the week ending Dec. 17. Hotel Loan The Los Angeles office of HFF (Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P.) arranged a $35 million bridge loan for Embassy Suites Glendale, the 272-room full-service hotel in Glendale. HFF secured a 36-month, adjustable-rate loan with Prime Finance, a commercial real estate finance company with offices in San Francisco, Chicago and New York, on behalf of Kam Sang Company, who developed the hotel and also manages it. The new loan will pay off the hotel’s existing construction loan. Transactions A cold storage building located at 18425 Parthenia Place in Northridge was recently sold to Jels Parthenia LLC, owner of Ideal Meat & Provisions. The transaction is valued at $1.375 million. Built in 1963, the unique property offers 11,400 square feet of cold storage, 1,700 square feet of office and 2,000 square feet of warehouse space. It also has four overhead doors with up to 16 feet of clearance. The tenant, Ideal Meat & Provisions, had previously occupied the property for many years and elected to acquire the property based on favorable market conditions and SBA financing terms, said Jeff Albee, senior vice president, based in Colliers International’s Encino office, who represented the seller in the transaction. “The market is showing signs of a recovery,” he said. The limited supply of cold storage space in the San Fernando Valley also heightened the demand for this type of property, he added. Along with Albee, Jeff Gould, senior associate, based in Colliers International’s Encino, office also represented the seller. The buyer, Jels Parthenia LLC, was represented by Bruce Simpson of Delphi Business Properties. Panorama City Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services transacted the sale of a Bank Owned REO, 8,186-square-foot office property in Panorama City. The asset commanded a sales price of $865,000. Brandon Michaels, Jessica Kelley, Martin D. Agnew and Daniel Withers, investment specialists in Marcus & Millichap’s Encino office, had the exclusive listing to market the property on behalf of the seller, a bank/financial institution. Palmdale Susan Champion, an associate of Lee & Associates-LA North/Ventura, Inc., transacted a 6,199-square-foot medical office lease at 38209 E. 47th St. in Palmdale on behalf of High Desert Medical Group. Maurice Capillaire of NAI Capital represented the landlord. High Desert Medical Group will relocate its satellite facility, Heritage Health Care, to the new location. High Desert Medical Group provides Internal Medicine, Family Practice, Pediatrics, Urgent Care and other specialty services through High Desert Medical Group, Heritage Health Care and California Desert Medical Group. “This move will allow High Desert Medical Group to service the east side of Antelope Valley from a brand new facility with great parking,” Champion said. “High Desert will have the opportunity to build out this space to achieve maximum efficiencies and enhance the services offered to its patients.” Total consideration for the 10-year lease is $1.2 million. Staff Reporter Andrea Alegria can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected]
Essex Property Snaps Up Glendale Condo Community
