Sonny Astani sells Westlake apartments for $83.1M

UPDATED, 2:40 p.m., July 11: Beverly Hills-based developer Sonny Astani sold his brand new Westlake apartment complex for $83.1 million to Kort & Scott Financial Group, a mobile home operator based in Anaheim.

The price tag of about $381,000 per unit is among the priciest deals in the Westlake area over the past two years. HFF represented Astani in the deal and procured acquisition financing on behalf of Kort & Scott.

Astani completed construction of the 218-unit Wilshire Valencia apartments earlier this year. He acquired the 1.5-acre site at 1515 Wilshire Boulevard for $7.6 million 2012 and put $60 million into developing it, the Los Angeles Times reported. The apartments are now more than 90 percent occupied.

It isn’t Kort & Scott’s first foray into multifamily in the submarket. In March, the developer bought a 58-unit complex on La Fayette Park Place, on the border of Koreatown and Westlake, for $20.5 million, according to data firm Real Capital Analytics. He also built a 200-unit condo building just one block east of the Wilshire Valencia in 2006.

Rents in Westlake average as much as $400 a month cheaper than rents in Downtown L.A. neighborhoods like South Park, thanks to lower development costs, Astani told the Times.  [LAT] — Cathaleen Chen

This article has been updated with the exact price provided by a spokesperson for Sonny Astani