Meta Turns Nursery Site Into Units

A 4.35-acre North Hills site formally hosting Green Arrow Nursery at 8845 Sepulveda Blvd. has changed hands for $14 million after a long dormancy. In a deal sealed Aug. 17, Meta Housing Corp. – one of Los Angeles’ leading developers of affordable and senior housing – purchased the vacant parcel of land. The sale has a complicated history. A partnership of Los Angeles brokerage firms Evanisko Realty & Investment Inc. and Systems Real Estate Management Inc. listed the property in June 2015, when Studio City-based Frank Evanisko and Systems brokered an acquisition structure on behalf of the sellers with a market-rate developer who successfully garnered zone changes and entitlements to build 364 apartment units with 557 parking stalls in place of the then-operational nursery business. Contingencies were removed and entitlements were awarded by mid-2017. However, rising costs and increased concerns over the long-term trajectory of the location led to the cancellation of escrow in December 2018. Evanisko and his clients were left holding millions of dollars in released deposits and an entitled piece of dirt since operations at the nursery had been shut down and the structure was demolished in anticipation of the project. “In contemplating a market re-entry of the site, I began to wonder if, in fact, the density play was the right maneuver,” Evanisko told the Business Journal. “If we could do this all over again, we would have likely proposed that we entitle on behalf of our client for a form of attainable for-sale housing product (i.e., townhouses) prior to sale, but back in 2015 costs hadn’t yet gotten out of control and the density seemed enticing to the market.” Meta Housing plans to move forward with the entitled apartment project. “I know when Meta calls, they’ve done their homework,” Evanisko said. “This is the fourth deal we’ve closed with Meta in the last 13 years.” Other San Fernando Valley area Meta Housing properties include the 94-unit Andalucia Senior Apartments at 15305 Lanark St. in Van Nuys; the 141-unit Burbank Senior Artists’ Colony at 240 E. Verdugo Ave. in Burbank; and the 188-unit Valley Village Senior Apartments at 12111 Chandler Blvd. in North Hollywood.