Valley Watch: Lion Real Estate Group pays $42M for three-property apartment portfolio

In our new Valley Watch series, we keep track of activity in the San Fernando Valley.

Lion Real Estate purchased a three-property apartment building portfolio from a private investor in an off-market transaction worth $41.6 million, The Real Deal has learned. The investor developed the San Fernando Valley properties over 40 years ago.

The properties are: the 105-unit building 4355 Sepulveda Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, 48-unit 7317 Haskell Avenue and 54-unit 6535 Haskell Avenue in Van Nuys.

Lion plans to renovate the exterior of the properties, as well as units, and improve the common area amenities, according to a company statement.

Michael Koshet of LA Commercial Agency represented the buyer and the seller in the transaction.

Lion Real Estate Group, led by Jeff Weller and Mory Barak, focuses on value add acquisitions including opportunistic multifamily and creative offices properties in Southern California and Nashville. The company sold two warehouses in the Arts District to Tishman Speyer last year, just a short while after it acquired a 112-unit complex in Tarzana for $19 million.

The San Fernando Valley has been making headlines recently. Facebook leased an 80,000 square foot lease in a Northridge creative office complex, The Real Deal reported earlier this month. The residential side is keeping up, too. Just down the street, developer Art Simonian is planning 364 new apartments. More commercial brokerages are getting into the area, once seen as a Class B market, as TRD explored in its October print issue.