Gelt pays $76M for 149-unit complex in Studio City

Apartments sit across from CBS Studio Center

From left: Gelt's Steve and Keith Wasserman with 4041-4121 Radford Ave
From left: Gelt's Steve and Keith Wasserman with 4041-4121 Radford Ave (Realtor, Gelt, Getty)

A local real estate investor paid $76 million for a 149-unit apartment building in Studio City.

Gelt, based in Tarzana, bought the four-story complex at 4041-4121 Radford Avenue, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal reported. The seller was AvalonBay Communities, based in Virginia.

The price comes out to $510,067 per unit.

The 13-year-old complex sits across from the CBS Studio Center, just south of the Los Angeles River. The beige complex has charcoal insets with gray balconies and is surrounded by palms.

It contains two buildings, with one- and two-bedroom apartments that are 98 percent leased. The apartments average 800 square feet in size and include 9-foot ceilings, washers, dryers and some private patios.

Gelt aims to spend $5 million on a renovation expected to take three years, according to Jeff Harris, a partner in the firm. The 1.26-acre property includes a fitness center, game room, lounge with TV, courtyards and a leasing office.

Plans call for apartment upgrades that include stainless-steel appliances, quartz countertops with undermount sinks, vinyl plank flooring, tile backsplashes, cabinets, new hardware and recessed lighting.

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The complex, called Avalon Studio 4121, will be renamed as well.

“This core-plus asset is only one of three apartment properties in Studio City with more than 100 units built in the past 15 years, making it a very rare investment opportunity in this submarket which has very high barriers to entry for new development,” Keith Wasserman, a partner at Gelt, said in a statement.

Gelt, which focuses on multifamily properties, in early 2020 aimed to spend $300 million on new apartments in Southern California, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Washington. It now claims more than $2.3 billion in assets, according to its website.

In January, it bought a recently built apartment complex in Downtown Long Beach for $156 million, after selling a 564-unit complex in Denver for $141 million.

In September, Gelt paid nearly $147 million for a 312-unit apartment complex in Anaheim.

Dana Bartholomew