Belmont Apartments Sell as Other Bay Area Owners Seek Buyers

As multifamily property owners across the Bay Area seek to offload their assets, one complex in Belmont has successfully found a new owner.

El Dorado Apartments, located at 2101 Carlmont Drive in Belmont, traded hands for $20.5 million, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported. The seller was a private family ownership group, while details surrounding the buyer were not disclosed.

Adam Levin and Robert Johnston of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller and procured the buyer, according to the Business Journal. Johnston said the property once belonged to the Bohannon family, known for housing development across the Bay Area, though it isn’t clear if it was under Bohannon ownership at the time of sale. El Dorado Apartments were built in 1962 and were owned by the seller for decades prior to the recent sale, according to the Business Journal.

The El Dorado residences were sold as part of a 1031 exchange transaction, allowing the property owner to defer capital gains taxes when reinvesting in similar assets. In completing the 1031 transaction, the sellers were permitted to diversify their portfolio and reset tax advantages, Johnston said.

The nearly 70,000-square-foot apartment property saw a “competitive buyer pool” thanks in part to its “quality as one of the best-kept and thoughtfully maintained 1960s-era multifamily properties in the market,” Johnston said. The sale “speaks to the critical role this type of well-maintained, quality vintage housing plays for a significant resident base,” according to Johnston.

Case in point: A recent multifamily report from Marcus & Millichap found that occupancy for Class B and C properties in the San Mateo metro area outpaced Class A properties. Because of Belmont’s strong employment fundamentals, limited new supply and steady rent growth, El Dorado Apartments could see its value increase, Johnston told the Business Journal.

Other multifamily owners on the other side of the Bay are looking to follow in El Dorado’s footsteps. Last week, a century-old apartment building in downtown Alameda hit the market for the first time in more than three decades. The owner of the 93-unit Alameda Hotel Apartments, like El Dorado, is a private real estate investor who is seeking $18.6 million for the residences. In neighboring Oakland, also last week, the 74-unit Ora apartment development hit the market after Prime Finance foreclosed on the property in late 2024 in a $25 million trustee’s sale.

— Chris Malone Méndez