Westwood at $445/SF - Why I Like it
This 2007-built apartment in one of Los Angeles' best rental markets trades below replacement cost
At a glance
closed Jun 9, 2026
22 studio · 63 one-bed · 2 two-bed · 9 three-bed · 1 four-bed
vs. $532K submarket avg
148,729 gross SF
reinforced concrete, 7 stories
0.71 acres · LAR5 zoning
covered · 2.06 stalls/unit
5.5% on price above $5M threshold
LoanCore Capital · Conventional · 75% LTV
~233 months · NMS Properties
What matters
- You Can't Build This for $445/SF. At $445/SF, the buyer starts with a cost basis that would be extremely difficult to replicate today.
- The Parking Alone May Be Worth $12–16 Million.With roughly 200 parking spaces, the garage alone could represent $12–16 million in replacement value. Most people underestimate how expensive structured parking has become and it's becoming an increasingly valuable part of an apartment building. Anyone building under parked buildings could be making a huge mistake. As an owner, I can tell you parking still matters and it's difficult enough leasing apartments with parking, let alone without it.
- Buy Existing. Skip Three Years of Risk. The real story is buying a newer Westwood asset at $445/SF. I'd Rather Buy This Than Build It. Three years of development risk disappeared the day this deal closed and the buyer gets immediate cash flow instead of taking entitlement, construction, and lease-up risk.
- They Didn't Buy a Cap Rate. They Bought Westwood. The real investment is one of Los Angeles' strongest rental markets, with UCLA, Century City, Beverly Hills, and Westwood Village driving long-term demand.
What an Operator Sees
This is exactly the type of apartment building I'd rather buy than build. At $445/SF, I think the buyer acquired one of the best apartment assets to trade this year. You can't recreate this location, and you can't recreate a 2007-built building at this basis.
The headline number is $66.25 million, but I think the more important number is $445/SF. Construction costs, financing, and entitlement risk make it extremely difficult to deliver a comparable property anywhere near that basis today.
Westwood has everything I want as a long-term owner: UCLA, Century City, Beverly Hills, and one of the deepest renter pools in Los Angeles. If rents continue growing over the next decade, today's cap rate will matter far less than owning an irreplaceable asset in an irreplaceable location.
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Write to David Safai at David@AtlasBrief.La
Appeared in the July 18, 2026 edition of The Tape.