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Essex Property buys Bay Area housing complex for $161M

Deal continues firm’s buying spree in San Mateo County.

Essex Property Buys Bay Area Housing Complex for $161M
Essex Property Trust's Angela Kleiman with 1 Plaza View Lane (Essex Property Trust, Google Maps, Getty)

Key Points

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This summary is reviewed by TRD Staff.
  • Essex Property Trust purchased The Plaza, a 307-unit rental apartment complex in Foster City, San Mateo County for $161.4 million.
  • The seller was insurance firm Northwestern Mutual Life.
  • Essex Property has been an active buyer in San Mateo County over the past year, with purchases including a 164-unit housing complex in Mountain View and two office buildings also in Mountain View.

Essex Property Trust has acquired The Plaza, a 307-unit rental apartment complex in San Mateo County, for $161.4 million, The Real Deal has learned. 

The property, located at 1 Plaza View Lane in Foster City, occupies a full block along Highway 92. The complex contains a mix of one- to three-bedroom units ranging in price from $2,863 to $5,213 per month, according to a listing on Apartments.com.

The transaction was mentioned in Essex Property’s fourth-quarter earnings report, released on Tuesday afternoon. According to the filing, the deal closed “subsequent to quarter end.”

The seller is insurance firm Northwestern Mutual Life, according to data from PropertyShark. The firm could not be reached for comment. 

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The property, which took six years to develop, was completed in 2013. It was built as the first phase of the Pilgrim/Triton master plan, which was envisioned as a “mini-neighborhood” with 8,000 square feet of commercial space, a half-acre public plaza and a 630-space parking garage. At the time The Plaza opened its doors to its first residents in 2013, the entire project was expected to create 700 apartments and 300,000 square feet of commercial space.  

Essex has been an active buyer in San Mateo County over the past year. In May, the firm bought a four-story 164-unit housing complex at 1030 Castro Street and 801 West El Camino Real in Downtown Mountain View for $101 million. In November, the firm followed up with its acquisition of two office buildings, also in Mountain View, for a combined $25.9 million. 

Essex was founded in 1971 by George Marcus, the chairman of Calabasas-based commercial brokerage Marcus & Millichap. The publicly owned firm, which focuses on the multifamily sector, owns 190 apartment complexes in California, including 86 in the Bay Area, according to its website.  

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