Colony Capital Buys Marina Condo Tower for $305 Million

Colony Capital, one of the largest real estate investment firms based in Los Angeles, said Wednesday that it purchased the Water Terrace luxury condominium tower in Marina del Rey for $305 million.

Colony Capital will invest $35 million in the 450 units set on 18 stories, said John Brady, a principal at the firm. The condominiums face the Pacific Ocean.

The seller was Equity Residential, a Chicago-based real estate investment trust headed by industry titan Sam Zell. Equity Residential completed Water Terrace in 2003. The company didn’t disclose what profit, if any, it made on the sale. Its shares fell $1.13 to $34.10 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Privately held Colony Capital, led by Chairman Thomas J. Barrack Jr., has invested about $12.2 billion in more than 7,600 assets since 1991. Last year, it bought four casino-hotels from Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and Caesars Entertainment Inc. for $1.2 billion and, with buyout firm Blackstone Group, sold the London-based Savoy hotel group for $1.4 billion.

AIG Global Investment Group, a unit of American International Group Inc., will lend about $290 million for the Water Terrace acquisition, and Colony Capital will invest $50 million in equity, Brady said.