Crescent Heights Applies to Convert Luxe L.A. Apartments to Condos

Just a few months after closing one of Orange County’s priciest multifamily deals ever, a Miami-based developer has set its sights on what could be the largest condo conversion in Los Angeles in decades.

Crescent Heights, the development and investment firm led by Sonny Kahn, Russell Galbut and Bruce Menin, filed an application earlier this month to convert Ten Thousand, a 40-story, 283-unit luxury apartment building in Century City, into condos. Crescent developed the property, at 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard, in 2017.

The project is likely the biggest condo conversion attempted in Los Angeles since The Century Towers project, a pair of 28-story, I.M. Pei-designed apartment buildings that were converted into 331 condos in 1973. Yet Ten Thousand, if it keeps that name, will undoubtedly have the highest barrier to entry for prospective buyers. Rents at the property currently range from around $10,000 a month on the low end, according to Apartments.com, up to an eye-popping $65,000 a month for the property’s penthouse. The penthouse was the costliest rent in all of L.A. when the building opened in 2017, according to reports at the time. 

Crescent’s exact plans for the conversion were not immediately available, though the developer said it does not plan to create new lots and that no construction is proposed. A condo conversion project without a construction element typically takes between four to six months, according to Old Republic Title.

A representative for Crescent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Crescent Heights until recently was focused on a major deal in Orange County. The company paid $240 million to Essex Property Trust for Skyline at MacArthur Place, twin 25-story apartment towers in Santa Ana. Crescent’s purchase of the 350-unit property was the fourth-priciest multifamily purchase in Orange County history, according to CoStar data. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.