JPMorgan sells LA apartments at 25% discount to FPA Multifamily

JPMorgan Investment Management has sold an apartment complex in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo for $86.1 million — 25 percent less than what the bank bought it for in 2020, The Real Deal has learned. 

FPA Multifamily bought the 240-unit Arrive Wakaba apartment complex from the bank, according to property records and a source familiar with the matter. Both FPA and JPMorgan declined to comment. 

The deal for the property, located at 232 East 2nd Street, came out to $358,000 per unit, in line with recent multifamily sales in Downtown Los Angeles. 

JPMorgan bought the complex in February 2020 for nearly $116 million, records show. 

The sale continues FPA’s streak of discounted buys. In March, the company bought 888 at Grand Hope Park from CIM for $186 million, roughly 21 percent less than the tower’s original asking price. 

That deal also came out to around $350,000 per unit. 

FPA, headquartered in San Francisco, was the 23rd largest apartment owner across the country in 2023. According to its website, it owns 770 properties with 152,500 units. That calculates to an average of nearly 200 units per property, roughly in line with the Arrive Wakaba purchase.

FPA has also spent the last year building out a portfolio of apartments in Chicago, dropping $96 million on a 558-unit complex in September, $144 million for a 500-unit tower and another $60 million for 270 units in March. 

Prices for apartment buildings have dropped 20 percent over the last two years, as interest rates have remained persistently high and rents have fallen, according to data from MSCI Real Assets. 

In 2022, FPA disclosed it had raised almost $950 million for its eighth apartment “opportunity fund,” according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm required a minimum investment of $1 million.