Oakland’s Grand Apartments Sell for $98 Million

An Oakland-based real estate investor has dropped nearly $100 million for a 23-story apartment building in the city.

Lakeside Group acquired the Grand building at 100 Grand Avenue in downtown Oakland for $97.5 million, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The 243-unit tower was developed by Essex Property Trust and opened in 2009.

The acquisition is hoped to help “restore energy, optimism and momentum” to the city, according to a statement from founder and CEO Isaac Abid cited by the Business Times. “Our work in Northlake is rooted in a belief that Oakland’s urban core can thrive again with the right mix of stewardship, investment and community partnership,” Abid said.

Lakeside’s acquisition of the Grand apartments marks its second real estate transaction since forming last year. In October, the Oakland-based firm acquired a 276,000-square-foot office tower at 180 Grand Avenue, one block west of its latest office grab. The company, in tandem with Rubicon Point Partners, took over the 15-story building via a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

The Grand building purchase is the latest Oakland residential property to trade hands for a discounted price amid a recovering multifamily market.

In January, The Martin Group bought a 224-unit property at 1889 Harrison Street in downtown Oakland for $61 million, or about half of its assessed value, the Business Times reported. In December, Three Steps Properties bought the 254-unit apartment building at 447 17th Street for $99 million, marking a 53 percent drop from its assessed value.

Other properties, like the Grand before Lakeside Group bought it, went back to lenders after different owners failed to pay back loans.

In June, local developer oWow returned its apartment building at 1919 Market Street in West Oakland to its lender, Boston-based UC Funds, in a similar deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure deal. In April, Oakland-based Signature Development gave back the 241-unit Orion Apartments at Brooklyn Basin to lender UBC Realty, also via a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

— Chris Malone Méndez