remaining santee village units repossessed, in limbo
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Unsold units in the Santee Village development have been repossessed by the construction lender and are being held by New York-based Merchant Equity Group after the sales team failed to meet required benchmarks, according to sources familiar with the project.
Looks like free MINI Coopers weren’t enough of a carrot to lure potential buyers in this economy.
Out of approximately 200 units at Santee Village’s third phase, 30% have sold since going on sale in April of last year.
Currently, no plans are in place going forward at the project, which sits at the edge of the Fashion District and Historic Core. Options on the table include renting the units out, bringing in another sales team or keeping the units vacant until the economic environment improves.
The move (or lack thereof) deals a blow to revitalization efforts in the area around 8th and Los Angeles streets, which has seen an influx of new residences, both renters and condo owners. And last year, a RiteAID in the complex closed, citing poor sales.
Still, leasing occupancy at the Santee Court development is at about 94%, much higher than many Downtown rental projects.
On Wednesday the development’s sales office was unreachable via their website, and the phone number has been disconnected. Additionally, developer MJW Investments could not be reached by phone.
36 comments
Sad News.
This project did a lot for that area and money was invested in a part of Downtown that was often overlooked. With this update and with the closing of Rite Aid, I wonder if all the progress that was made will be lost.
If it was a rental, I’d consider living there. There number of amenities is not enough for the whole complex to use (which is fine…when was the last time I used our pool or workout room?), but the neighborhood is great!
Take the news in stride.
As stated, Phase I (Santee Court) is at 94% occupancy. Phase III (the Textile Building) is sold out.
Phase II is 30% sold, so that’s a good amount of people there now. Those 30% aren’t going anywhere.
Also consider that SB Main is beginning to lease now, and SB Spring is on the way soon, within the next couple months. That not only adds more people to the mix, but new retail.
Things will pick up!
^^ Two new SB buildings? Plus all the other former condos now for rental units - this is further going to increase inventory, hopefully drive down rents. Maybe angelenic should do a story on falling rents downtown/ increasing inventory and what it means for the community.
I would LOVE to rent a small loft in DT, but $1000 is all I can afford. Hopefully soon! Maybe by Labor Day? I can have my housewarming party on that long weekend :)
Also the neighborhood should be able to adapt. The people there will need services…”and they will come if you build it.” Christian
I think they should offer the remaining units for sale at $200 a square foot. Then they would be affordable to most of the people downtown. The reason most of these developers can’t sell their units is they are simply asking too much for them. There is a danger in that, because it creates the false impression that downtown is not viable, when quite the opposite is true.
I would love to live in downtown proper, but Koreatown is about where my rental budget lies. I wonder what the falling rents will mean for the area…
That whole block is super duper ghetto and even more so now that Rite Aid is closed. So much drug trade on that corner, in front of the now closed drug store…hahaha I just realized the irony of that sentence.
It must be a bitch trying to “revitalize” when the national economy is complete shit.
So do these clowns have any extra mini coopers lying around? I could use a new golf cart.
Heather,
How are things in your part of Koreatown? - I’m by the Wiltern and even since this economic / recession downturn I have noticed in increase in graffiti, crime, and a lot of vacancies (with even cheaper rent). I am moving out this month from Koreatown—Saving up my pennies to hopefully move to downtown / historic core some day (when I get a loft for under 1000).
There may not be many lofts for under a grand, but Grand Central Square Apartments are clean and affordable.
I really have to wonder about the management of this complex. If they couldn’t sell these units for over a year, then they obviously should have rented them out until the market improves.
And as someone who lives nearby, the loss of the RiteAid was a major inconvenience. Why did they have a hard time keeping the retailer when the place always seemed so busy? The line at the one on Broadway & 5th is now horrendous.
hmm i wonder why Phase III (the sold out one) came before Phase II. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
My bad. Phase II is the Textile Building, which is sold out; Phase III is the big building which is the subject of this post.
^^
Oh ok. I wasn’t sure if it was a new type of Real Estate Marketing where they sell future phases to build up momentum and prices for the previous phase.
“Oh no Phase III sold out! I’m so lucky they still have one in Phase II. I’ll take 3 units before they’re all gone!”
I am annoyed with some of these overpriced buildings. If people cant buy a loft flat out what makes you think they can afford expensive rents as well in todays economy? When I was looking for lofts I called Santee and they started at$1800…are you kidding me? For that place in that area? Seriously Los Angeles street is not nice enough to validate that price……Say what you want about the SB , but I think they are really smart and are doing wonderful things for the Downtown market. Not everyone can afford a $2000 a month rent but dont necessarily want to move into the Hayward or other low income housing with some pretty interesting neighbors for $800. I couldnt even qualify for low income housing if I wanted to….. Im a average girl who makes average money, and there should be a middle ground for everyday people. Thats what I like about the SB lofts because they do some pretty reasonable prices starting at $1100. Santee is full of it and its going to take a lot of price reductions before anyone moves into that area…youre best off staying west of Main!
“Im a average girl who makes average money, and there should be a middle ground for everyday people.”
That’s not how the world works, average girl.
Does anyone know if the lofts in the center facing the court yard with 300 sq ft Balconies sold? Those units were the only good livable spaces in the building
Average girl, you might want to do some research on Barry Shy before signing those papers at SB Lofts.
Barry Shy is a disgusting sleaze, but I live in one of his buildings and so far no problems. I didn’t know all the stories about him until after I’d moved in and when I found out I had a bit of “Hoh shit, I’m in trouble” panic. But it’s been fine. The building is clean and well-maintained. Repairs are done quickly. You get a lot of space for the money. Having said all that, if I were able to find a comparable loft for the same money, I’d move just because I don’t trust the bastard.
He handles the parking for the Bartlett Building (dba 7th Street Lofts) — they just grift their money quarter after quarter. We’ve requested trash cans in the garage multiple times so that some of the piggish residents can use them instead of leaving their trash to pile up in the garage. BS does nothing. They can’t make up their minds whether residents can or cannot use the lifts, yet we have to navigate our cars under and around them when we park.
Average Girl - I work at Santee Court and you are full of wrong information. Our lofts start at $1290 per month. I think that $1290 is an average price for an average person. 40 % of our community is within that price range. It is true that we have some lofts that start at $1800 per month but, those are typically the largest floor plans we have. Good Luck with the SB.
I agree with Bert Green, I dont mind living in subpar areas like that surrounding Santee Village but I’m not paying a premium for it. I could definately do $200/Sq ft and have been looking to buy…
Rich- Is there any potential that these units could go into foreclosure or be sold at auction ala the Rowan lofts?
BTW I went to the Rowan lofts and was not impressed, discounting overpriced lofts isnt enough
Tasia: That remains to be seen. I’m sure it’s entirely possible. I’ll try to keep on top of it.
The problem with the Santee is the parking. Beautiful parking structure, but its 2-3 blocks away. They’ll shuttle you, but I’ve heard those promises before
Rich Alossi - You were right the first time — The Textile Building is Phase III and the buildings that are the subject of this post are Phase II. The reason they went “out of order” was that the Textile Building is by itself on the corner while Phase II is three buildings and it was quicker to get the single building done. Basically, the conversions started at the same time but the Textile Building was lucky enough to hit the market before it crashed while Phase II took too long.
David: Then my correction stands corrected. Thanks for the clarification!
i am so confused now!!!!
Rich, can you do a recaulation on the percentage sold total phase 1,2 ,3 or 4 if there is one (as in avarage for everything)?
Unfortunately, my brain really doesn’t work like that.
Just consider this: Phase I is rentals; Phase II is 30% sold (out of about 200 units); and Phase III is 100% sold.
oh i see… so.. phase one really doesnt count because it’s not applicable to our situation here.
so its 65 percent sold for the other 2 buildings
I believe the Manhattan SB building is 1200 for the smallest units (around 510 sq) plus parking.
Not a deal imo.
Ave. Girl there are no “should’s” in the world of business, only “is’s” and “are’s”, and right now this “is” what building owners Downtown are charging to live in their units. “Should’s” are what you tell children to do…
“Options on the table include renting the units out, bringing in another sales team or keeping the units vacant until the economic environment improves.”
Or, you know, LOWERING THE PRICE…
Well, the Rowan Lofts on 5th and Spring are going on auction…the prices are incredible. Feel free to email me for details. Tiffany
Phase III consisted of 3 buildings. The Cornell(96)Units, maybe 50% sold, Eckhardt(72) less than 30% sold and Santee(42) this building never went to sale. They are not 100% sold. The property was forclosed on by the Developers lien holder. This project is now bank owned. This is not great for the current owners. This is not good for the HOA and clearly not good for anyone who wants to buy. If a property is not at least 80% sold or Fannie Mae approved, then it makes it more difficult to get approval from any bank. Recovery certainly is not around the corner.
You are all full of crapp. All the info you people have is so wrong. Santee village is in negotiations for sale by the contruction finance company. The buyer is said to demolish all santee village buildings to make way for a new state of the art shopping mall.
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