It’s a sign that Pacific Rim investors are interested in locations outside of downtown Los Angeles, sometimes at an extreme premium.
Singapore’s Mapletree Group purchased an 89,600-square-foot, 60-unit Class A multifamily apartment building at 5659 W. Eighth St. on the Miracle Mile late last month for a whopping $41 million, or roughly $683,000 a unit, according to real estate sources. The property will be managed by West L.A. corporate housing developer Oakwood Worldwide. The seller was New York insurance firm Metlife Inc.
The property last traded hands in March of last year for less than $32 million, or roughly $533,000 a unit, according to company filings from UDR Inc., which had been a joint venture partner with Metlife in the property.
Mapletree, a real estate firm that manages four Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts and six private equity real estate funds, acquired a 49 percent stake in Oakwood Asia Pacific last year and inked a joint-venture agreement with Oakwood Worldwide to acquire and develop a portfolio of Oakwood-branded properties in Asia and the United States. This is the joint venture’s sixth property acquisition, but its first in Los Angeles.
Kristin Zimmerman, Oakwood’s vice president of real estate investments, said the partners planned to turn the luxury apartment complex into furnished corporate housing.
“Los Angeles is one of the largest markets for corporate housing, and the Miracle Mile building is a great location because people like to be between downtown L.A. and (the Westside),” she said.
The building is fully occupied, according to CoStar Group Inc., by residents with yearlong leases that end at different times. Oakwood will take over those leases after their terms end, and will furnish and rent them to corporate clients as they become available, rather than waiting for the entire complex to turn over.
The property consists of one-bedroom apartments that range from roughly 1,150 square feet to 1,300 square feet, and two-bedroom apartments that range from roughly 1,400 square feet to 2,100 square feet. Rates will be based on the market at the time the leases turn over and how much business the corporate client has with Oakwood, Zimmerman said.
