A 302-unit apartment complex wedged between Koreatown and Westlake just changed hands for $60 million, more than 30 percent below what its seller paid for it eight years ago. Blackstone's LivCor sold Violet on Virgil to Post Investment Group, closing the books on a property that sold for less than its 2018 purchase price.
A Third Off the 2018 Price Tag
LivCor originally paid $90 million for Violet on Virgil in 2018, and the $60 million sale price marks a 33.3 percent decline from that figure, according to Multi-Housing News. Post Investment Group paid $198,675 per unit for the property, per CRE News. The buyer financed the deal with a $47.3 million Freddie Mac loan originated by KeyBank, covering the bulk of the purchase price.
Violet on Virgil sits on nearly 3 acres at 160 S. Virgil Ave., between the Koreatown and Westlake neighborhoods. The property consists of two low-rise buildings completed in 1971, offering studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units that average 633 square feet. Amenities include two swimming pools, resident lounges, fire pits, a business center, a gym and a recreation room, the outlet's report notes.
Koreatown's High-Yield, High-Risk Submarket
The sale lands in a submarket that has become something of a proving ground for value-add apartment investing. Koreatown/Mid-Wilshire posted the highest cap rates across the entire Los Angeles market, at 6.7 percent during the first half of 2026, per the same report. The submarket also logged the highest number of deals closing among all Los Angeles submarkets year-to-date through June, even as a glut of new multifamily deliveries pressured older buildings like Violet on Virgil.
That combination has drawn investors willing to absorb operational headaches in exchange for bigger returns. Investors in Koreatown/Mid-Wilshire accepted operational risks and higher supply volatility in exchange for higher going-in yields, the report states. Separately, a market snapshot from the LAAA Team put the average cap rate across seven apartment sales with recorded figures in the Koreatown and Mid-City market at a lower 4.43 percent, while CoStar data cited in that same snapshot showed submarket vacancy at 6.3 percent as of the first quarter of 2026.
Not an Isolated Discount
Violet on Virgil is not the only Los Angeles apartment complex to trade well below its last sale price this year. Pacific Urban Investors paid $139 million for Next on Sixth in June, a 26.5 percent decline from the property's 2019 price of $189 million, according to Multi-Housing News. Nationally, apartment cap rates averaged 5.79 percent in the second quarter of 2026, the highest quarterly level since the third quarter of 2015, according to RealPage Analytics data reported by Yahoo Finance.
That same data shows transaction volume held up despite the pricing pressure: U.S. apartment deal volume totaled $36.7 billion in the second quarter, nearly matching the prior year even as fewer properties changed hands. Los Angeles led all U.S. markets in apartment dollar volume during that quarter, with roughly $1.4 billion in transactions, per the report. Mid- and high-rise properties also captured 51.8 percent of national apartment dollar volume in the quarter, their first majority share in 25 years, the same account notes.
Older Buildings Face Added Strain
Other Koreatown-area deals point to the kinds of challenges that can accompany aging rental stock. A seven-property, 275-unit multifamily portfolio in Los Angeles sold for $25.25 million in September 2025, concentrated in the Koreatown and Westlake neighborhoods and made up largely of 1920s-era brick buildings along with an infill land site, according to Marcus & Millichap. That portfolio was experiencing tenant delinquencies, aging building systems, deferred maintenance and litigation before it sold, the firm said.
Across the broader Koreatown and Mid-City market, the LAAA Team has documented 16 closed transactions totaling $45.06 million, eight of them apartment sales averaging $459,083 per unit. A sample of 11 Central Los Angeles buildings had median insurance costs of $1,039 per unit annually as of this month, according to the LAAA Team's data.
