Family office pays $38M for West Covina apartments

Buyers of former Gemdale USA asset are descendants of Cedars-Sinai co-founder

HFH Limited, a family office linked to the descendants of one of the founders of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, bought the South Hill Apartments in West Covina for $38.3 million.

The property, located at 217 South Barranca Street, is a 106,000-square-foot complex with 85 units. It is located just off the San Bernardino Freeway near Cortez Park. The deal for the asset closed on Jan. 11, according to a deed filed in Los Angeles County records.

The seller is MKB Ventures, which is managed by Martha Kerstner and Madelyn Bailey. The partnership bought the asset from Chinese firm Gemdale USA for nearly $32 million in 2020.

HFH is headed by a management team that includes two great-grandchildren of Kaspare Cohn, a wealthy German-born businessman who founded the Kaspare Cohn Hospital in Los Angeles in 1902. That hospital later merged with Mount Sinai Hospital, part of an evolution that eventually created Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Cedars-Sinai has since grown to become the largest nonprofit hospital in the western United States.

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The firm owns nine apartment complexes across Los Angeles County, according to its website. Its portfolio includes the Kenswick Court Apartments in Culver City, the Emerald Garden Apartments in Torrance, the Mar Vista Palms Apartments in Mar Vista, the Century West Apartments and Westwood Gardens in Westwood, the Park Montair Apartments and Patio Gardens in Long Beach and the Downey Court Apartments and Florentine Apartments in Downey.

The company also owns a commercial portfolio that includes the Long Beach Post Office Building at 2500 Mira Mar Avenue in Long Beach, the Allied Office Plaza at 7777 and 7787 Alvarado Road in La Mesa and Westchester Place at 8814-8818 South Sepulveda Boulevard near Los Angeles International Airport.

HFH is funding the acquisition with a $19.1 million mortgage. The lender for the loan is MUFG Union Bank.