Newmark is pleased to present Northwinds Apartments, a 20-unit garden community at 340 Orlando Street in El Cajon. The property is fully gated and organized around a lush central courtyard, is 100% occupied with long resident tenure, and has been finished to a quality standard that still leaves room for a targeted value-add program.
Northwinds is built around its courtyard, where mature landscaping surrounds a garden that has been cared for continuously and that residents step into through the gate. The setting is the reason tenure runs as long as it does at this rent level. The unit mix is 18 one bedroom homes at 550 square feet and two two bedroom homes at 750 square feet, each with a private patio and generous storage. Eleven garages, nine of them with direct courtyard access, and ample additional gated parking serve the community. These garages present a fantastic opportunity to add quality ADU units to the property that live as if they were always there.
The property was built in 1977 and has been well maintained since, and every unit shows in strong condition with either quartz or granite countertops, dishwashers, and wood-style flooring in select homes. Finish levels support a moderate renovation program on turns rather than a full repositioning, so the interior upside is available without taking the units offline for any length of time. Central water heaters were replaced within the last five to six years. SB721 has been satisfied.
Average tenant tenure approaches four and a half years, half the roster has been in place five years or longer, and gross rents sit approximately 11% below market. Roughly 6% of that is loss to lease across the revenue units and the balance is one unit currently carried at no rent and available for recapture. Together with the interior program, the next owner has three separate levers on rent, none of which require significant capital or carry meaningful execution risk, on an asset that is already stabilized in one of San Diego County’s tightest rental submarkets.