Prime Residential picks up 156-unit apartment complex in North Hollywood for $62M

Property in NoHo Arts District sells for $393K per unit, 14% less than it traded for in 2016

Prime Residential Buys NoHo Apartment Complex for $62M

From left: Prime Residential co-CEOs Dan James and John Atwater along with 5077 Lankershim Boulevard (Getty, Prime Presidential, LinkedIn, Google Maps)

Prime Residential has acquired a 156-unit apartment complex in North Hollywood for $62.1 million — $10 million less than what it traded for eight years ago.

The San Francisco-based investor bought the five-story, mixed-use building at 5077 Lankershim Boulevard, in the NoHo Arts District, the Commercial Observer reported. The deal works out to $393,077 per unit, or 14 percent less than its previous trading price.

The seller was Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities, which bought the AVA North Hollywood in 2016 for $72.1 million.

The complex, built in 2015, has a pool, spa, clubroom, sky deck, leasing office, café and business center. It also has 11,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, including four restaurants, a Pilates studio and a massage and spa business.

The deal was brokered by Institutional Property Advisors, a unit of Calabasas-based Marcus & Millichap. Agents Kevin Green, Joseph Grabiec and Gregory Harris of IPA represented the seller.

“After substantial development in the submarket pre-COVID that was met with positive absorption but muted rent growth, the area is starting to hit its stride,” Green said of the Arts District, in a statement.

Arlington-based AvalonBay, the nation’s fourth largest owner of apartments, has more than 80,000 units, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.

It’s also among the largest owners of apartments in Los Angeles, with dozens of properties across the region, according to the Observer.

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The multifamily developer may also be unloading key properties at major discounts.

Last month, AvalonBay sold a 100-unit apartment complex in Seattle’s hip Belltown for $34 million, or $340,000 per unit — a quarter less than its assessed value of nearly $45 million.

At the same time, plans by AvalonBay Communities and Abode Communities to replace a Mid-Century Modern courthouse complex with a retail village in West Los Angeles may fizzle for lack of funds.

L.A. Councilwoman Traci Park filed a motion to delve into the West L.A. Commons project at 1645 Corinth Avenue after the joint venture reported market conditions had jeopardized its financing, Urbanize Los Angeles reported. Its development agreement expired this spring.

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The company was tapped three years ago by the city and Los Angeles County to redevelop the 7.6-acre West Los Angeles Civic Center in Sawtelle. 

Prime Residential, founded in 1989, is a unit of Prime Group, with more than 18,000 apartments and townhomes across the U.S., according to its website. It owns the historic Park La Brea in Mid-City, the largest apartment property on the West Coast, with nearly 4,500 units.

— Dana Bartholomew