Infamous Chinatown landlord Don Toy has sold the 270-unit Cathay Manor Apartments, getting $97 million for the property after a year of protests and lawsuits over conditions at the property.
The 15-story, 226,000-square-foot complex at 600 N. Broadway, located at the gateway between Downtown Los Angeles and its Chinatown district, was built in the 1980s. Toy owns the property through an entity called the Chinese Committee on Aging Housing Corporation. It’s unclear how much was the purchase price for the property. However, a calculation based on the transfer tax pegged the price at $97 million. The transaction closed on June 16, property records show.
The figure is lower than the price attached to a proposed transaction from last October. According to a previous report from the Los Angeles Times, Toy agreed to sell the property for $108 million to a non-profit called Lutheran Gardens Corporation. Tenants urged the Department of Housing and Urban Development to block the deal over fears of excessive rent hikes.
The current buyer is New York-based affordable housing developer Capital Realty Group. The firm bought the asset through a partnership called Cathay Manor Apartments, LP. A representative for the firm confirmed Capital Realty’s involvement in the deal but declined to provide further information.
Toy is facing a lawsuit over an earlier attempt to sell the property. In April of last year, he signed an agreement to sell the property to LGC Cathay Acquisition, an entity that has the same business address as Anaheim-based affordable housing developer Barker Management. The buyer pulled out of the deal after Toy allegedly failed to resolve all liens against the property. The dispute resulted in a lawsuit, with the buyer seeking the return of its $868,141 deposit and expenses. The case is still open, court records show.
Dozens of the housing complex’s tenants staged a protest in March of last year, on the same day that Toy was arraigned for numerous health and safety violations. According to a previous report from local news outlet KCAL, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office charged Toy with 16 misdemeanor counts.
Residents reportedly alleged that the property has been unsafe for decades. Conditions were said to be so bad that two tenants died because first responders couldn’t reach their apartments in time. Community organizers also claimed that an inspection of the property in December of 2021 resulted in hundreds of violations. Issues with the property reportedly include broken elevators, fire hazards and a cockroach infestation. Toy could not be reached for comment.