How Many Units Does $100M Buy?
Answer: nearly 500.Western National Realty Advisors kicks off 2013--and finalizes its National Realty Fund II LP--with the acquisition of Ironwood and Fairway Palms, a two-complex,496-units apartment community in Rancho Cucamonga from JP Morgan for more than $100M.The property will be as operated as a single community, managed by the firm's property management arm. According to VP of acquisitions Jerry LaPointe, it's 95% leased and one of the area's few communities with golf course views (and apparently a painted sky). Under its second private equity fund, which raised more than $200M incommitments, Western National completed six acquisitions and five developments, and Fund III is on its way.
The firm capped off 2012 withthree huge apartment buys. Jerry (second from left, with colleagues Valerie Kunimura, Nick Alicastro, and Lea Beasley) highlighted one in particular--the $42M-plus acquisition of the 312-unit Parcwood Apartments in Corona--because it sits in a submarket with one of the best outlooks for recovery. For starters, Corona is close to OC, which means not only access to jobs but a shorter drive to ride the bobsleds at Disneyland.
Jerry tells us the market will be "fairly stable with cap rates." He expects to see more supply coming online this year, especially with the acquisition of Archstone by AvalonBay and EQR, in which there'll be be some disposing of assets. Western National's also involved innew ground-up development, including several out-of-state projects in Colorado and Utah. The firm is looking at one other project in Orange County, now in the planning stages.
