Omninet Capital LLC has purchased a 189-unit apartment building in Mid-Wilshire for $9.3 million in cash, closing escrow in an unusually quick 10 days.
The 2200-2208 W. Eighth St. property, known as the William Penn Apartment Homes, was sold this month by Bascom Group LLC. Irvine private-equity group Bascom purchased it in 2006 for $9.6 million and spent several million dollars on renovations. But the group decided to sell after some partners wanted to cash out, according to Brent Sprenkle, associate partner at L.A. real estate services company Hendricks & Partners, who represented Bascom.
Omninet is an investment vehicle of Beverly Hills resident Neil Kadisha, who ranked No. 39 on the Business Journal’s list of Wealthiest Angelenos last May with a net worth of $1 billion. The company has been seeking underperforming commercial properties in the Southwest of more than 50,000 square feet and valued at more than $5 million.
The apartment building had been on the market for a month and about 30 potential buyers toured the property, with 10 putting in offers. But Omninet’s all-cash offer and willingness to close in 10 days with no contingencies made it the favorable choice.
“It was an impressive transaction,” Sprenkle said. “Buyers and sellers usually want two weeks to inspect a property and 75 days to close.”
Omninet intends to continue operating the building as a rental. Units are all studios averaging about 250 square feet with monthly rates of $600, he said.
In January, Omninet bought a five-building office campus in Commerce for $40.1 million from Thomas National Properties LLC in Irvine. Its portfolio also includes the 45-story Sky Las Vegas condo tower and the 44,000-square-foot Valencia Oaks office building.
Omninet represented itself in the transaction.
Brokerage Shake Up
Chris Cooper has left his position as chief executive of Charles Dunn Co. to become principal and managing director of the new Southern California offices of Toronto-based brokerage Avison Young, which opened a branch here last year.
Cooper will be based in Westwood and oversee the company’s expansion in Southern California.
Before joining Charles Dunn in 2010, Cooper spent five years as L.A. senior managing director of New York brokerage Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and nine years as an L.A. executive vice president of Chicago brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Cooper served as a real estate attorney for 11 years before becoming a broker.
“I decided to make the move because of the excitement of a rapidly growing environment,” said Cooper, 52. “Also, I believe the national and international platform is very important. That’s the direction of the business today.”
Avison Young has been hiring industry veterans around Los Angeles, and last fall acquired Ramsey-Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. and its 23 employees. It has 29 employees today and plans to open several more offices throughout the region.
Charles Dunn has not yet announced a successor to Cooper.
School Sale
Santa Monica developer New Urban West Inc. has agreed to sell its 5-acre property in Burbank’s Rancho Equestrian Neighborhood where it had wanted to build a subdivision but was met with months of protest from residents.
The company at first proposed a 120-unit condo community for the 1105 W. Riverside Drive site, formerly occupied by a General Motors training center, but was forced to redraw plans after residents complained the project would increase congestion. New Urban West then offered to build just 50 single-family homes but still could not win community support.
The company is selling the property, which it purchased in 2009, to Lycee International de Los Angeles, a French-influenced K-12 school with four campuses in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Tom Zanic, senior vice president of New Urban West, said that the company decided to move on when it became clear that the development was stalled.
“It wasn’t an alternative that we had envisioned but it’s one that makes sense for us right now, and it makes sense for the school,” said Zanic, who declined to disclose the sale prices but said New Urban West will make a profit on the sale.
Neighborhood resident Jay Geisenheimer, a member of the Rancho Review Board that provides input to the city about area developments, said the proposal for a school – which will only have a couple of hundred students during the week – would be welcomed.
“It’s got a 95 percent approval rating and that’s not an easy thing to accomplish in the Rancho,” she said.
Staff reporter Jacquelyn Ryan can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 228.
