Ex-Disney Employee Buys Azusa Luxury Apartments

A newly built residential and retail building in Azusa has been purchased by a private investor with ties to the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

An affiliate of Richard Battaglia, a former Walt Disney Company employee who designs and develops theme parks, bought the 127-unit Lumia luxury apartment building at 850 North Azusa Avenue in Azusa for $53 million, Commercial Observer reported. The seller was Serrano Development, which built the property in 2024. CBRE’s Chris Tresp, Derrek Ostrzyzek, Rachel Parsons, Mike Murphy and Kenji Thomas represented the seller in the deal; the buyer’s representative was not disclosed.

Lumia is located next to the Downtown Azusa Metro stop and features 9,132 square feet of ground-floor retail occupied by Wingstop and Pacific Detail Services. Amenities at the residential property include pool, fitness center, fire pit, dog wash station and business center with conference rooms.

The San Gabriel Valley maintains an average occupancy rate of over 96 percent, making it one of the most competitive multifamily submarkets on the West Coast, per CBRE data cited by CO. Rent prices in the region have increased by approximately 44 percent over the past decade, and there are no large developments planned to be completed there after this summer.

Battaglia’s purchase marks the latest multifamily acquisition in Azusa.

In September, Legacy Partners purchased a vacant residential complex previously owned by Azusa Pacific University for $91.8 million, The Real Deal previously reported. Azusa Pacific bought the property in 2015 with plans to use the residences for student housing. The university ended up selling the site because it was not fully utilized, according to CO.

The month prior, Langdon Park Capital and Standard Real Estate Investments acquired an 84-unit multifamily property at 18615 East Arrow Highway, the Los Angeles Times reported. The sale price for the community, now branded as Langdon Park on Arrow and designed to serve working families, was not revealed.

— Chris Malone Méndez