Santa Monica mega-portfolio officially hits market

It’s official: The largest multifamily development opportunity in Santa Monica in a generation is now on the market.

WSC Communities’ 23-parcel portfolio, entitled for the development of over 2,100 units and over 1 million square feet of residential space, is being billed by the brokers as a chance for a buyer to become the largest multifamily landlord in Santa Monica, controlling about 7 percent of the city’s market-rate inventory.

WSC is controlled by the family of prominent Westside landlord Neil Shekhter, and led by CEO Scott Walter. Shekhter declined to comment. In December, The Real Deal first reported that WSC was testing the market for the portfolio.

“Never has there been an opportunity to acquire a development portfolio of this size in Southern California, never mind Santa Monica,” state the marketing materials, which were reviewed by TRD. No pricing guidance was provided.

The materials tout the project’s “reduced affordable component,” because many of the entitlements were secured before Santa Monica’s heightened affordability requirements were put in place.

“If proposed today these projects would have to provide 30% on-site affordable housing or 35% off-site affordable housing,” the materials state, compared to the 20 percent requirement in place.

The portfolio is also entitled for over 200,000 square feet of commercial space. The addresses include 1430 Lincoln Boulevard, 1325 6th Street, 1437 6th Street and 1318 Lincoln Blvd. All but two of the sites – 1520 7th Street and 3025 Olympic Boulevard – are entitled.

A Walker & Dunlop team of Blake Rogers, Javier Rivera, Alexandra Caniglia and Hunter Combs is handling the sale.

There were just $6.1 billion in total L.A. metro multifamily deals as of December 2020, according to Savills, down from $13.2 billion last year. Still, the portfolio in play here could upend the hierarchy among Southern California’s residential landlords: The entire city of Santa Monica has just under 37,000 rental units.