Coronado Apartments Sell for $6.15 Million, Historic Transaction

Jim Nelson, a Coronado realtor with the Nelson Riddle Team, affiliated with Coldwell Banker West, has announced the sale of Lori Manor, an 18-unit apartment complex at 1012-1028 “A” Ave. in Coronado.

Nelson said the $6.15 million sales price is believed to be the largest multi-family property sale in both transaction dollar amount and unit count in the history of Coronado, which was incorporated in 1890.

The seller of the complex was the Jacob L. Mather Family Survivors Trust, represented by Nelson.

The buyer of the Class C building was Carlsbad-based Vista Pacific Partners, LLC, represented by Todd Law, Capital Growth Properties, Inc.

The sales price represented a per-unit cost of $341,000 and a cap rate of 3.4 percent.

The two-story apartment complex sits on a 15,000-square-foot lot located east of Orange Avenue, a block from the beach and the iconic Hotel Del Coronado.

Lori Manor features 10,350 square feet of living area with 12 two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments (700 to 800 square feet) and six studios (250 to 500 square feet). Rents were priced starting at $1,245 for studios and $2,150 for two-bedroom units. Unit amenities included heating, kitchen and cooktop range. Site amenities included laundry facilities and storage space.

The complex, primed for rehab and redevelopment, was built in 1951. Nelson said the buyer intends to continue operating the property in its existing capacity.

The trust selling the property is named after Jacob Leroy “Lee” Mather, a World War II veteran and longtime Coronado resident who operated the Lee Mather Company Realtors, a real estate brokerage he founded in 1953. In 2002, Mather was honored by the National Association of Realtors with the Realtor Emeritus status. Mather passed away in March 2015 at age 96, three weeks prior to his 97th birthday.

The Lee Mather Company Realtors, believed to be the second longest running business in Coronado, remained a family-owned business and a Coronado fixture on Orange Avenue for more than 62 years.

In June 2015, Debbie Riddle, president and managing broker of the Lee Mather Company Realtors, announced a merger with Ascent Real Estate, Inc. Recently, in November 2019, Ascent Real Estate merged with Coldwell Banker West (CBW), one of San Diego County’s largest real estate companies.

The CBW-Ascent merger is believed to be one of the largest in recent San Diego real estate industry history. The combined brokerage, to be called Coldwell Banker West, features 14 offices and nearly1,000 sales agents. The newly expanded CBW is expected to represent annual property sale volume exceeding $2.5 billion. CBW officials said sales volume in 2018 reached about $1.5 billion for CBW and about $850 million for Ascent.