Fullerton apartments take title as top sale in OC

A major multifamily developer has notched a record Orange County sale.

Intracorp, whose Southern California operations are based in Newport Beach, on Friday announced that it had sold its 290-unit AmpliFi luxury apartment complex in Fullerton for $168 million.

The deal comes out to $579,310 per unit, the highest per-unit figure for Orange County in what’s been a red-hot year for the multi-family segment. In a release, Intracorp also said the amount represented an all-time record for the multifamily segment in Orange County on a per unit basis.

Brad Perozzi, the company’s Southern California president, called the recently built apartment complex “the best development execution I have witnessed in 25 years.”

The buyer was not disclosed, and a representative for Intracorp did not respond to a question about the buyer’s identity.

AmpliFi, near downtown Fullerton, was completed in 2019 and ranges from studios to three-bedrooms. A one-bedroom is currently leasing for $2,805 per month, while a three-bedroom goes for $4,290, according to the complex’s website.

The property’s amenities include a business center, coffee bar and three rooftop decks; it’s marketed as a modern, “playful” complex “that’s close enough to the downtown scene yet set apart from everything.”

The record sale is a surprise even with the luxury touches at the complex.

Fullerton, a mostly middle and upper-middle class city in inland Orange County, traditionally hasn’t fetched the same prices as OC’s coastal cities or nearby areas.

That appears to be changing. Intracorp’s sale topped the prior high-water mark for OC apartments for this year, a deal in Laguna Niguel where a recently built complex traded hands for $163 million–or $545,000 per unit.

Indeed, northern Orange County appears to be increasingly attractive to developers amid the ongoing boom: In late October, a builder announced plans for a 139-townhome project in Placentia, just east of Fullerton.

Intracorp grew out of a company that was founded 40 years ago in Vancouver, and now develops housing complexes in British Columbia, Ontario, Washington State and Austin, in addition to California. The firm developed the Fullerton property in partnership with Grosvenor Americas, a developer and investor with a parent company that is based in London and owned by the Duke of Westminster and his family.

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