Century City-based Optimus Properties has purchased Temple KT, a seven-property portfolio of apartment communities in Koreatown and Echo Park totaling 91 units.
The properties were constructed between 1945 and 1991. Unit counts for each building range from 8 to 30 apartments.

Marcus & Millichap’s Rick Raymundo and Philip Rodgers represented the seller, a private family trust, in the transaction.
“The properties in the Temple KT portfolio are located in areas that we have owned many assets in, so we know these areas well, and we are confident our value-add strategy will perform well here,” Kamyar Shabani, a principal at Optimus Properties, said in a statement.
Optimus plans to modernize the common areas, renovate unit interiors upon vacancy and increase property-management efficiencies.

“We were able to lock in a low-interest rate for this acquisition in the current rising-rate environment, which added to the desirability to purchase this portfolio,” Joseph Shabani, a principal at Optimus Properties, said in a statement. “We look forward to bringing these properties up to the standard that tenants demand in the up-and-coming neighborhoods they are located in.”

Optimus also recently purchased The Alvarado Collection, a two-building, 65-unit apartment community located near the Temple KT parcels. Both properties in that acquisition were built after 1978 and subject to statewide rent control.

The larger property, at 301 N. Alvarado St., has 42 units, while the second asset, at 223 N. Alvarado St., has 23 apartments. Optimus Properties also purchased a 22-unit apartment building located at 2901 4th St. in Santa Monica.

Apartment properties are a preferred asset class in the greater L.A. area, where $18.5 billion worth of assets traded hands in 2021, up from $8 billion the year prior, according to data from CBRE Group Inc. The only asset type to see more trade volume in 2021 was industrial properties, which saw $20.7 billion worth of real estate trade hands locally.