Gelt Venture Partners Buys Placentia Apartment

Gelt Venture Partners has picked up a 125-unit apartment complex in Placentia for $63.2 million.

The Brentwood-based investor bought the Union Place complex at 1500 Cherry Street, the Commercial Observer reported. The seller was an affiliate of MG Properties, based in San Diego.

The three-story complex, built in 2012, includes two- and three-bedroom apartments that average a little more than 1,200 square feet. It has a fitness center, pool, barbecues and a playground. It was originally designed to be condominiums. The price works out to about $506,000 per unit.

Gelt said it will invest $3.25 million over two years to revamp the Orange County complex, which has a vacancy rate of less than 4 percent.

Upgrades will include new kitchen islands, cabinets, tile backsplashes, quartz countertops, recessed lighting and vinyl plank floors. Common areas will get fresh paint, while the pool and fitness center will be made over.

“GVP saw this asset as a prime opportunity to realize significant upside by implementing a renovation program targeting luxury upgrades to unit interiors as well as making strategic common area and amenity improvements,” Keith Wasserman, founder of the firm, told the Orange County Register.

Rents for its one- to three-bedroom apartments range from $2,895 to $3,449, according to Apartments.com.

Brokers Mike Murphy and Rachel Parsons of Berkadia represented the buyer and seller in the deal.

Gelt Venture Partners aims to raise $150 million for its new fund to capitalize on distress from short-term, high-leverage loans over the next three years, according to the Observer.

Over the next 18 months, the firm says it wants to acquire up to $400 million worth of real estate across Southern California, as well as in Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Portland, Ore.

In 2008, Wasserman founded Gelt Inc., based in Tarzana. That firm, operating as Gelt Ventures, owns 29 residential properties with nearly 11,600 units, valued at $2.1 billion, according to its website.

— Dana Bartholomew