A Koreatown Trophy Tower Just Sold for $50 Million Less Than It Paid in 2019

Published July 26, 2026

Pacific Urban Investors bought the 398 unit Next on Sixth in Koreatown for $139 million, about $349,000 a door, versus the $189 million Equity Residential paid for it in 2019, roughly $475,000 a door.

Pacific Urban Investors just bought Next on Sixth, a 398 unit tower at Sixth Street and Virgil Avenue in Koreatown, for $139 million, about $349,000 a unit. Equity Residential paid $189 million for the same building in 2019, about $475,000 a unit. That is a $50 million paper loss for a major REIT, on a tower with a ground floor Target.

The deal itself

Bisnow reported that Equity Residential sold Next on Sixth to Pacific Urban Investors for $139 million, a $50 million discount to what Equity Residential paid in 2019. The Registry confirmed the same figures and the address at 620 South Virgil Avenue. The building has 398 units and a roughly 20,000 square foot ground floor Target, the kind of retail anchor that is usually treated as a stabilizing feature, not a liability.

Run the math per door and the gap gets sharper. At $139 million for 398 units, Pacific Urban Investors paid about $349,000 a unit. Equity Residential's 2019 price of $189 million works out to about $475,000 a unit. That is a drop of roughly 27 percent per door over seven years, on a large, well located, professionally managed asset owned by a public REIT the whole time.

Why a seller like Equity Residential takes that trade

Equity Residential is not a distressed owner, and this was not a forced sale. Bisnow reported that Equity Residential CEO Mark Parrell laid out the reasoning himself on the company's first quarter earnings call. One piece of EQR's strategy, he said, is to sell "older, capital intensive assets or assets where we have heavy concentrations" to help fund stock buybacks and other priorities. Equity Residential still owns three other Koreatown buildings, each in the 200 to 300 unit range, so Next on Sixth fit both parts of that description at once.

That is worth sitting with. This was not a building in trouble. It was a management decision by a REIT that is also in the middle of a much bigger move, a planned merger with AvalonBay Communities announced in May that would create a combined company worth roughly $69 billion and holding about 180,000 units nationwide. Selling a single Koreatown tower at a loss, while true on paper, is a small piece of a portfolio being reshaped for other reasons entirely.

What this deal does confirm is where large scale institutional buyers currently think Koreatown apartment values sit. Pacific Urban Investors is itself a sophisticated, well capitalized buyer, not a bargain hunter picking up a distressed asset out of desperation. Two institutional players agreeing on $349,000 a door for a 398 unit tower with retail income is a real data point on where the market clears today, not a one off fire sale.

What this means for your building

If you own rental property in Koreatown, this transaction is one comp, not the whole market, but it is a meaningful one given the size and quality of the asset. A large, amenitized, retail anchored tower trading at roughly a 27 percent discount to its 2019 price tells you that even the strongest Koreatown assets have repriced downward over the past several years. Smaller buildings without a national retail tenant and a REIT's balance sheet behind them are not automatically tracking the same curve, but this deal is a useful anchor point if you are trying to gauge where per door values have moved.

If you are not planning to sell anytime soon, none of this changes your day to day. Rent rolls and operating income matter more than a headline transaction two blocks away. But if you are weighing a sale, refinancing, or simply want a realistic sense of what your building might be worth today versus a few years ago, this deal is worth knowing about before you talk to a broker or lender.

There is also a rent context worth knowing. Bisnow reported, citing CoStar data, that average rent in Koreatown runs about $1,970 a month, roughly 18 percent below the broader LA metro average, with vacancy slightly above the regional average at 5.9 percent. A softer rent picture is part of the backdrop for why an asset like Next on Sixth traded down, even with a national retail tenant anchoring the ground floor. If your own rents or vacancy have felt soft the past year, that is not just your building. It matches what the data shows for the neighborhood as a whole.

Common questions

Does this mean every Koreatown apartment building has lost value since 2019?

Not necessarily. This is one large, well documented transaction between two institutional owners, and it is a useful data point, but building specific factors like unit mix, condition, rent roll, and retail income vary a lot across Koreatown. A broker or appraiser would need to run comps against your specific property to say anything more precise.

Why would Equity Residential sell at a $50 million loss instead of holding?

CEO Mark Parrell told investors on the company's first quarter earnings call that part of EQR's strategy is selling "older, capital intensive assets or assets where we have heavy concentrations," and Equity Residential owned three other Koreatown buildings at the time of the sale. It reads as a portfolio decision tied to where the company wanted to hold capital, not a sign the building itself was troubled.

What does "price per unit" actually tell an owner?

Price per unit, or per door pricing, is a quick way to compare buildings of different sizes on a common basis. Next on Sixth's drop from about $475,000 to about $349,000 a door over seven years is a meaningful directional signal, but it should not be treated as an exact appraisal tool for a different building without a broker or appraiser reviewing your specific numbers.

Last verified: July 26, 2026. Figures cited from Bisnow and The Registry's reporting on the Next on Sixth sale. This is general information for property owners, not investment or legal advice. Confirm current pricing and valuation for your own property with a broker or licensed professional before acting.

Kellie

Schofield Properties

323 Richmond Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

Topics: investing, koreatown, central-la, market-trends

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Schofield Properties is a family run property management company at 323 Richmond St, El Segundo, CA 90245. We have managed the South Bay since 1972 and personally oversee about 186 doors today. Book a call to talk about your property.