R.W. Selby & Co. picked up a rare multifamily complex in Culver City in a $33 million off-market deal. The transaction was brokered by a Kennedy Wilson agent who is the son of the seller’s general partner, a fact he did not disclose when publicizing the deal.
The purchase, a 104-unit complex called Imperial Buckingham Apartments, is located at 6000-6024 and 6060 Buckingham Parkway in the burgeoning Culver City neighborhood. Brentwood-based R.W. Selby specializes in acquiring and managing Class A and B apartment complexes in Southern California and Nevada, targeting deals between $10 million and $300 million and often paying all-cash. Many of its holdings are in the student housing sector.
On Friday, a public relations professional reached out to The Real Deal with a pitch about how his client, Kennedy Wilson broker David Pressberg, used his insight on the market to overcome challenges — namely Culver City’s adoption of rent-control measures — to complete the sale. The deal closed on Nov. 7, and Pressberg brokered both sides.
The publicist did not initially disclose the buyer and seller. Eventually, he provided
the name of the buyer, but insisted he wouldn’t name the private seller, which TRD discovered through a search of tax and corporation records were two entities controlled by Pressberg’s family.
In an interview with TRD, David Pressberg said that his father, Ken Pressberg, was the general partner of the selling entity. Tax records show the entity was controlled by two shell companies tied to the Pressberg family’s investment firm, SPB Partners. David Pressberg said neither he nor his father owned a financial stake in Imperial Buckingham Apartments, which was developed by David’s grandfather Sidney in the 1960s.
The broker said he simply received an unsolicited offer from R.W. Selby, presented it to the sellers (several limited partners), and they accepted.
David Pressberg said R.W. Selby was aware of his relationship to the seller, and claimed that he only received a commission from R.W. Selby despite brokering both sides of the off-market deal. He said he didn’t disclose the seller or his relationship to it because his family business is “very private,” and said that while the relationship did help him win the listing, it was his contacts and savvy that enabled the deal to happen.
R.W. Selby declined to comment on the transaction or its relationship with the Pressbergs. The firm will likely need to deploy $10 million into the Buckingham Parkway property, which has never been renovated, according to David Pressberg’s representative.
TRD was unable to independently confirm whether or not Ken and David Pressberg had a financial stake in the property.