Multifamily investor Sares-Regis bets big on Miracle Mile

The investment firm paid $87M for a 168-unit apartment complex in fast-changing area

Ken Gladstein in front of 630 Masselin Avenue
Sares-Regis Group's Ken Gladstein in front of 630 Masselin Avenue

The multifamily investment arm of Sares-Regis Group is betting big on a fast-changing corridor of Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile.

The Orange County-based firm paid $86.7 million for a 168-unit apartment complex at Wilshire Boulevard and Masselin Avenue, county records show. A company affiliated with Chicago-based Hart Renaissance Apartments sold the 168,000-square-foot building located at 630 Masselin Avenue. The sale was completed last month.

Hart Renaissance acquired the complex for $65 million in 2013.

Called the Preston Miracle Mile Apartments, the property has studio, one- and two-bedroom units that its website says will “complement your 21st century urban lifestyle” — perhaps a nod to L.A.’s space-crunch and growing vertical residential market. Studios, at 525 square feet, start at $2,180 a month.

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The acquisition comes one month after Sares-Regis announced it raised $329 million in private equity commitments for its multifamily fund, with investors that include insurance companies and public pension funds. Sares-Regis began raising money for multifamily investments in 2013, when it announced a $114 million commitment from private equity.

According to the Sares-Regis website, the company targets “high-growth, supply constrained Western U.S. markets” with an eye toward second-tier residential properties. A message left with Sares-Regis was not immediately returned.

The acquisition comes amid a flurry of recent development and investment in the area along Wilshire Boulevard and near Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

A block away, developer J.H. Snyder is building a 117-unit luxury residential complex. On the commercial side, early last year, Onni Group bought the Wilshire Courtyard office campus at Wilshire and Masselin, for $630 million.