Bay Area Firm Buys Camarillo Oaks Complex

Essex Property Trust Inc., a Bay Area-based real estate firm, has purchased the 371-unit Camarillo Oaks Apartments in the first of what company officials anticipate will be a series of Ventura County acquisitions.

The complex at 831 Paseo Camarillo is valued at $20.75 million, or $56,000 per unit. The property had been in bankruptcy for about two years and was purchased from the lender, the general partners and the limited partners.

“We try to be very selective and pick markets that have certain characteristics--good, strong demographics,” said Keith Guericke, president and chief executive of Essex, which owns, operates and develops real estate. “We see Ventura County as having a very good standard of living, and that’s what we like. This is really an anchor for our Southern California strategy.”

Essex has ownership interests in 23 properties, the majority in Seattle, Portland and the Bay Area. The 25-year-old company, which went public in 1994, has three holdings in Orange County.

Guericke said Essex will soon be managing an additional 600 apartment units at four complexes in the Channel Islands area.

The properties are owned by Tiger/Westbrook Real Estate Fund LP, a Los Angeles firm that invests in property primarily for pensions and endowments. Guericke said his company also is in negotiations on a third Ventura County property and another in Orange County.

“We recognize that in the Bay Area the rents have moved and prices have moved, and we feel there are going to be better acquisitions now in Southern California as the economy there recovers,” Guericke said. “The Bay Area recovered about a year ago. Our opportunity to expand and grow our company is in Ventura County and Orange County.”

In addition to the attractive pricing, Guericke said, Ventura County offers Essex a good market for its properties.

“We see a population there that is well-educated and that we believe is going to attract good-paying jobs to the area,” Guericke said. “The basic characteristics are a good employment base, an educated work force and quality of life. The area has a very low crime rate, which is another reason why people want to go there and raise their families.”

Ventura County also is appealing to Guericke, he said, because he sees the region as building only a limited number of new apartments in years to come.

“The land is zoned and with the Coastal Commission and agricultural reserves in Ventura County, there are not going to be a lot of new apartment buildings built,” he said. “So we feel there will be a lot of value in our properties in the future.”

Essex operates multifamily complexes of 100 to 400 units. The company looks to purchase property that is less than 10 years old, but has real estate that is 20 to 25 years old, Guericke said. He said the Camarillo complex was built in phases, starting 14 years ago.

“We have an active program of rehabilitating these properties,” he said. “In the case of Camarillo Oaks, we are going to spend $1.5 million to rehabilitate.”