Entitled Woodland Hills Site Sold for $20 Million

A 3-acre parcel of land in Woodland Hills entitled for apartments has sold for $18.8 million to the U.S. subsidiary of a Beijing real estate investment firm. BCEGI International Co. Ltd. purchased the site at 6041 Variel Ave. from Selective Real Estate Investments in Encino, according to L.A.-based CBRE Group Inc. The land is entitled for 274 apartments and currently houses two vacant industrial buildings totaling more than 84,000 square feet. The site is within a mile of the Warner Center and major shopping destinations at Westfield Topanga and the Village. CBRE’s Laurie Lustig-Bower and Kamran Paydar brokered the deal on behalf of the seller. Lustig-Bower said fully-entitled and well-located properties attract Asian investors. Paydar said overseas groups are looking to invest themselves or with local partners in the local markets. “The buyers pursued this development opportunity because of the strong multifamily fundamentals and close proximity to world-class retail amenities and Warner Center’s Class A office employers,” Paydar said. Asian interest in U.S. real estate appears to have grown substantially over the last five years, driven predominantly by developers from China. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 30, China-based investors committed nearly $13 billion in commercial property deals alone, according to Real Capital Analytics Inc.