JRK Property Buys Chase Knolls Apartments in Sherman Oaks

JRK Property Holdings is adding a Sherman Oaks apartment complex to its portfolio as part of a more than $300 million deal.

The Los Angeles-based investment firm spent a combined $315 million on the Chase Knolls apartments in Sherman Oaks and the WestEnd25 residential high-rise in Washington, D.C., Commercial Observer reported. JRK did not disclose individual prices for the properties. Chicago-based Waterton sold Chase Knolls and D.C.-based JBG Smith sold WestEnd25, according to property records reviewed by CO.

To finance the purchase, JRK used its Platform 5 fund, a $1 billion vehicle focusing on value-add and core-plus multifamily investments. In addition, to help take over Chase Knolls, JRK used a joint venture with Platform 5 and its MF Opportunities III fund, a $200 million pool targeting properties built before 1989.

“Our team excels at identifying fundamentally sound, undervalued opportunities that offer the best attractive risk-adjusted returns, which is how we came to acquire an older suburban garden-style community and luxury urban high-rise in the same fund,” Danny Lippman, JRK’s president, said in a statement provided to The Real Deal.

Chase Knolls, located on 14 acres at 13401 Riverside Drive, takes up nearly two city blocks in Sherman Oaks. It was originally built in 1949 with 260 units across 19 buildings. In 2021, six more buildings containing 141 units were added, along with a clubhouse and resort-style pool. JRK is planning a multimillion-dollar capital improvement initiative to upgrade the community amenities and common areas.

The garden-style apartment complex is one of only 12 communities built in Sherman Oaks over the past 75 years with more than 100 units.

The property was designed by Black architects Heth Wharton and Ralph Vaughn; in 2000, their work was deemed so culturally significant that the city of Los Angeles declared the Chase Knolls apartments as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The duo also designed North Hollywood Manor in North Hollywood and the 52-building Lincoln Place Apartment Homes in Venice.

— Chris Malone Méndez