Wood Partners Begins Work on San Diego County Apartments

San Marcos, Calif.–Wood Partners has broken ground on a 108-unit apartment property in San Marcos, Calif., north of San Diego. The property, which doesn’t have a name yet, will be adjacent to California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) and within walking distance of the Sprinter, the local light-rail system.

The development is a gated community with 42 two-bedroom and 66 one-bedroom units. The first units will be available in May 2012, with the remaining inventory available when construction is completed that October. The total size of the property is about four acres, one of which has been reserved for 12,000 square feet of future retail development.

The new development ought to appeal to CSUSM staff, graduate students and undergraduate students with higher levels of disposable income who prefer not to live in dorms, posits Wood Partners. Also among potential rentals are professionals working in the Carlsbad, Calif., area or in association with the new hospital, CSUSM expansion projects or University District developments.

The cost of the project, including the purchase price plus its construction cost, is about $20 million. According to Brian Hansen, Wood Partners’ director of development for southern California, lenders are once again interested in projects such as this, after some years of hesitancy.

“We are definitely seeing a difference in the lending market from just a year ago due to the strength of apartment fundamentals,” Hansen tells MHN. “Depending on the unique aspects of a multifamily project and the size of the loan, more lenders are ready to jump in. Since the loan we received for the San Marcos project was small in size, we received a lot of attention from the lending community.”