Whatever Kairoi Residential does with 777 Wadsworth Blvd., the company surely hopes it goes smoother than its project next door.
The San Antonio-based apartment developer paid $4.5 million last week, according to public records, for the 4.1-acre suburban office complex in Lakewood.
The property is directly adjacent to the site of Kairoi’s controversial 411-unit project along Belmar Park, which some local residents have vehemently opposed.
Kairoi didn’t respond to a request for comment about its plans for the recent purchase. The deal works out to $25 per square foot for the land, which is home to three 1970s office buildings and ample surface parking.
“There has been nothing filed to indicate what is planned for this property,” Lakewood spokeswoman Stacie Oulton said in an email.
The seller, local firm Tedford Commercial Real Estate, also did not respond to a request for comment. In 2003, the company paid $5.4 million for the Wadsworth property and the adjacent office complex at 777 S. Yarrow St. that Kairoi has since demolished for its apartment project.
City Council meetings about that project once drew hundreds, with residents expressing concerns about how the project would impact Belmar Park, which 777 Yarrow St. backs up to.
“I’ve never seen this much emotion and attention to a development issue as this one, because people are so horrified that we would take the last vestiges of a beautiful park with wildlife known across the country,” Lakewood City Councilwoman Anita Springsteen told BusinessDen in 2023.
What unfolded after was a back and forth battle between developer, city and local residents. Citizens initiated a ballot measure requiring developers to set aside land as green space. Lakewood subsequently made it law before a city-wide vote could even take place.
That, in turn, drew a lawsuit from Kairoi, an injunction pausing enforcement of the new statute, and then a vote by the Lakewood City Council to undo the statute.
In May, the Lakewood Planning Commission voted 5-0 to approve Kairoi’s project. But rather than drop its lawsuit, Kairoi rewrote it, taking issue with the dollar amount it would need to pay Lakewood in lieu of dedicating parkland. Last month, the courts sided with Lakewood in that dispute.
Since then, the project has slowly progressed. A preconstruction meeting occurred in late September between the developer’s general contractor and Lakewood, Oulton said.
The property Kairoi purchased last week is not adjacent to Belmar Park.
Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.
Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.
