$33M financing approved for Ventura apartment plan
Elijah Brumback
CBRE Capital Markets’ Debt & Structured Finance team announced Dec. 9 that the firm secured a $33.1 million construction loan for Parklands Apartments, a 173-unit, high-end apartment development in Ventura.
Sharon Kline and Marina Massari of CBRE’s Newport Beach office worked on behalf of BAJO Ventura, an entity owned by Westwood real estate developer John Ashkar.
Ashkar’s firm is in the process of permitting and developing several hundred units in the city of Ventura and elsewhere in California.
Terms of the three-year loan include two 12-month extension options and the lender, is U.S. Bank.
Construction on the project, located at Telegraph Road and South Wells Road, is expected to start within 30 days. Parklands Apartments will feature Mediterranean-style architecture and several amenities including a gym, swimming pool, spa and coffee bar.
Unfortunately for Ashkar, the 255 apartments he’s trying to build elsewhere have hit the brakes in the approval process until at least early next year, thanks to a debate over the implementation of affordable housing in the developer’s project.
In January of 2012, Ashkar’s Westwood Communities originally laid out plans for 15 three- and four-story buildings with commercial space on 3.5 acres surrounded by Junipero Street, Santa Clara Street and Thompson Boulevard.
As is, the project doesn’t included any affordable housing, and city planners say the project isn’t required to provide any due to a state law passed in 1995 called the Costa Hawkins Act.
• Business Times sources say the high-profile property at 318 State St. in Santa Barbara, which is fully leased and includes retailers REI and Sit n’ Sleep, currently has four purchase offers on the table and negotiations are in full swing.
The 55,500-plus square foot property was listed in September by Radius Commercial Real Estate & Investments with an asking price of just over $21.9 million. Located in the city’s hub within walking distance of the Funk Zone, West Beach, Stearns Wharf, and a handful of new mixed-used development projects, the property is an anchor in a high-traffic retail corridor.
The building, originally constructed in 1930 and updated in 2011, sits on a nearly 95,000-square foot piece of land, with 83 on-site parking spots.
• Another property slated for new ownership in Santa Barbara is 111 E. Victoria St. The property is expected to sell early next year, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. Shareholders of Santa Barbara-based civil engineering Penfield & Smith are selling the property, which was built by the firm for its corporate headquarters in 2006.
The office building, listed at $12.6 million, is one of the newest such structures in Santa Barbara County. Stantec, the publicly traded design and consulting firm based in Alberta, Canada, recently signed a new seven-year lease for the property after it acquired Penfield & Smith in October.
The 18,000-square-foot-plus building is located a block from State Street, the courthouse and the arts district. Features include high ceilings, multiple patios, state-of-the-art conference rooms, IT services, 40 private offices and a roof-top deck.
In 2011 Penfield & Smith sublet a portion of the building to McGowan & Gunterman, a local CPA firm. The sublease of about 4,000 square feet of the second floor with the CPA firm is still in place and is now assigned to Stantec.
The sublease expires Nov. 30, 2017. The new lease is a single tenant net lease, and Stantec will manage the sublease with the CPA firm. According to Radius, net operating income for the property in the first year of the new lease would be just more than $630,000, rising to almost $733,000 by year seven. Stantec also has three 36-month options.
