Eagle, Vistria buy 402-unit Orange County complex for $133M

Eagle Real Estate Partners and Vistria Group have paid $132.5 million for Crystal View Apartments, a 402-unit community in Garden Grove, expanding their income-restricted housing platform into one of Southern California’s tightest markets.

The buyers picked up the nearly 60-year-old property at 12091 Bayport Street for roughly $330,000 a unit. As part of the deal, they extended an existing covenant reserving 20% of units for households earning up to 50% of area median income and added a new restriction setting aside 30% of units for households at up to 80% of AMI. The partners plan capital improvements at the 1968-built complex, which offers a resort-style pool, fitness center and 555 parking spaces. Newmark’s Geoff Boler and Jonathan Merhaut brokered the sale.

Why it matters. So-called attainable-housing strategies — buying existing apartments and layering on income limits rather than building new — have drawn growing institutional capital as ground-up affordable development stays expensive and slow. A $132.5 million bet in supply-constrained Orange County shows investors still see room to scale the model across the Los Angeles region.

The numbers. At $132.5 million for 402 units, the deal pencils to about $330,000 per unit for a workforce-oriented asset with half its units now under some form of income restriction.

What’s next. The new owners will begin renovations while the deepened affordability terms take hold. “Crystal View represents the continued scaling of our attainable housing platform,” said Taylor Friend, managing partner of Eagle Real Estate, calling it the firm’s third such acquisition in a year.