Affordable developer Danco buys 18 acres in Ventura County 

NorCal-based company plans to build 200-unit complex in Moorpark

Danco's Chris Dart with rendering of Vendra Gardens
Danco's Chris Dart with rendering of Vendra Gardens (Danco Communities, Getty)

Danco Communities, a Northern California-based affordable housing developer, has bought an 18-acre site in Ventura County for a 200-unit apartment project. 

The seller was Essex Property Trust, a San Mateo-based REIT, and the deal was announced by Lee & Associates LA North/Ventura, one of two brokerages that represented Danco. The purchase price was undisclosed, but once the project is completed, the property will have an estimated value of $146 million, the release claims. That figure is based on an average per unit value of $730,000, according to a representative for Lee & Associates. 

The property is located at 150 Casey Road outside downtown Moorkpark, in Ventura County, a few miles from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley and about 50 miles west of Downtown L.A. 

Danco plans to build a community-style project called Vendra Gardens. The proposal calls for nine different buildings that will include a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, as well as a 2,500-square-foot leasing building and 2,500-square-foot amenity building. Danco will also return 6 acres of the 18-acre site to the City of Moorpark. 

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About two thirds of the project’s units will be reserved for affordable housing (tenants who earn 30 to 60 percent of area median income), according to a release, and the project was funded with tax-exempt bonds through the state’s California Debt Limit Allocation Committee.

Danco, which is based in Arcata, in Humboldt County, has completed and pending multifamily and commercial projects in San Jose, Oakland and Sacramento. 

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