Optimus Properties buys seven apartment buildings in core of LA

A local real estate investor has bought 91 apartments in seven buildings in Koreatown and Echo Park.

Optimus Properties, based in Century City, bought Temple KT, a portfolio of seven apartment buildings of between eight and 30 apartments built between 1948 and 1991, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported. The seller was an undisclosed private family trust.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Optimus said it plans to update common areas, renovate unit interiors upon vacancy and increase property-management efficiencies.

Among the properties is an orange-colored, two-story complex at 4256 W. 2nd St. in Koreatown, which includes one- and two-bedroom units that rent from $2,200 to $2,800 a month, according to Rentcafe.com.

“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 co-founder of 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 just bought The Alvarado Collection, a two-building, 65-unit apartment complex near the Temple KT parcels. Both Alvarado properties were built after 1978 and subject to statewide rent control.

The larger complex at 301 N. Alvarado St. has 42 units. The smaller property 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 investments have been strong across the Greater Los Angeles market, where $18.5 billion in multifamily properties traded hands last year, up from $8 billion in 2020, according to CBRE Group.

The only asset type to see more trade volume last year was industrial properties, which saw $20.7 billion worth of real estate trade hands locally.

In 2018, Optimus Properties agreed to pay a nearly $2.5 million settlement following a lawsuit filed by tenants in five rent-controlled Koreatown buildings who alleged the landlord pressured Latino and mentally disabled residents to leave the apartments in order to raise rents.

[Los Angeles Business Journal] – Dana Bartholomew

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