MJW Takes On Investor for Santee Court
Santa Monica, Calif.–based MJW Investments has taken on an equity partner to help it build the second phase of its Santee Court residential/commercial project, which will eventually total about 500 residential units, in the Los Angeles Fashion District.
Los Angeles–based Phoenix Realty Group will join MJW in financing Santee Court’s next round of housing, which will feature 216 for-sale condominiums, each from 600 to 1,500 square feet. The $92 million project is located in the 700 block of Los Angeles and Santee streets. Construction is underway and should be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2007, said Mark J. Weinstein, chief executive officer of MJW Investments. Sales are expected to open next month.
The developer said the project will also include 28,000 square feet of retail condominiums featuring apparel-, fragrance-, jewelryand accessory-type stores, as well as coffeehouses and small restaurant space.
“There’s lots of demand for those types of businesses right now,” said Weinstein, noting the outcrop of recent growth in the district.
Phoenix Realty is a New York–based real estate fund manager with regional offices in Los Angeles and San Diego. The firm’s investment in Santee Court will be drawn from the $103 million Genesis Workforce Housing Fund, an institutional fund catering to marketrate housing for middle-income households. Phoenix’s managing director, Jay Stark, said the second phase should appeal to office workers, firefighters, police officers and teachers.
Weinstein sold the first phase of Santee Court, consisting of 165 rental lofts, to a Michigan teachers’ fund last year. He also invested in another large mixed-use project in Boyle Heights, where the developer is planning to build apartments next to a Sears store. —Robert McAllister
