Santa Monica Apartments Hit Market

An apartment building on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica is newly on the market but it isn’t your typical listing.

It’s on behalf of a court-ordered receiver, according to CBRE marketing materials. The ask for the 28-unit apartment building is $27.5 million, meaning each apartment would go for about $1 million.

The property at 901 Ocean Avenue — which has ocean views, a pool and rooftop deck and is surrounded by palm trees — had an about $33 million price tag five years ago, according to reports at the time. But that was before its owners lost control to a receiver.

In December, Nano Banc sued the owners and borrowers — entities connected to Andrew Stupin, Gerald Marcil and Jason Miller — over a $27 million loan secured by the apartment building. The Irvine-based lender requested a receiver be appointed after the borrowers allegedly stopped making payments, and one entity transferred the interest to the others, which the lender said was a breach of contract.

The borrowers owe about $24 million, per the complaint, which included loan documents signed by Stupin and a deed of trust that names Stupin, Marcil and Miller as trustors. The court later appointed Douglas Wilson as receiver.

CBRE, the receiver, Miller and attorneys for Stupin, Marcil and Nano Banc did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 901 Ocean Avenue legal saga occurred after news surfaced in October that Stupin, a longtime California real estate investor, and Marcil, an L.A. landlord and Republican donor, among others were sued by multiple regional banks over hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged bad loans connected to commercial real estate. They denied the allegations.

Santa Monica apartments have a 4.4 percent vacancy rate, lower than Los Angeles’ average, and command an average rent of $3,800 a month, per the latest CBRE data. The 901 Ocean apartments, though, according to offerings on online real estate marketplaces, are asking $5,500 for a one-bedroom and $9,500 for a two-bedroom.