In rare WeHo sale, investor pays $15.6M for multifamily property

Private investor Daniel Sands acquired a 39-unit rent-controlled apartment complex for $15.6 million in a once-in-a-blue-moon West Hollywood sale, according to his brokers.

The seller, the Tennessee-based Reddy family, had owned the 1974-built property for several decades, according to Marcus & Millichap’s Adi Mizrahi, the listing agent. The sales price pencils out to approximately $400,000 per unit.

Mizrahi and his colleagues, Tony Azzi and Jordan Asheghian, also represented Sands.

Located just east of the West Hollywood border, the three-story complex, at 1533 North Martel Avenue, sits on a half-acre lot. There are six studios, 27 one-bedroom, and six three-bedroom apartments. The complex is dubbed Deccan Villas.

At the time of the sale, 10 units were vacant, meaning they could be renovated and brought up to market-rate rents, Mizrahi told The Real Deal. The buyer will update the lobby as well as the exterior of the building. Since the property is technically within the city of Los Angeles, it’s not subject to WeHo’s much more stringent rent control policies, he said.

The high price tag for the property serves as further evidence that the inventory-starved WeHo market is hotter than ever for investors. The submarket average for multifamily sales in 2016 was about $304,500 per unit, according to CoStar, but only 63 properties traded hands, the bulk of which were built in the mid-20th century.

“It was a rare opportunity because people really like to hold on to their buildings here,” Mizrahi said.