Mosser Capital adds workforce housing in SF, Oakland

Mosser Capital, a San Francisco-based workforce housing investor, has spent at least $128 million over the last four months to buy up middle-income housing.

According to public records for sales that have been recorded, the firm has spent at least $82.5 million on 14 properties in San Francisco and Oakland since December, and $45.5 million on the previously announced acquisition of the Wilshire Royale apartment complex in Los Angeles.

The firm announced on Monday that it has recently spent an additional $22 million on buying five other properties across the three California cities, without naming the locales. In total, Mosser said it has spent $150 million on 20 properties in recent months, adding properties deemed affordable to middle-income households.

Mosser “worked with private and corporate endowments and pension fund investors” to purchase the properties, a spokesperson for the firm said.

Workforce housing is a term often used to describe apartments restricted to tenants making between 60 and 120 percent of the area’s median income — typically in return for some form of public financing for the owner.

The term “market-rate workforce housing” suggests a developer or operator will not use public financing, aiming to draw middle-class tenants without locking into any restrictions on rental rates.

Mosser has spent most of its money in Northern California.

In San Francisco, the company has purchased 158 units across 10 apartment complexes for a total of $57.5 million.

The San Francisco properties are: 140 Haight Street, 1677 Bush Street, 1525 Clay Street, 1521 Taylor Street, 45 Brosnan Street, 1074 Union Street, 1565 Washington Street, 590 8th Avenue, 690 34th Avenue, 1845 Cabrillo Avenue and 281 Turk Street.

In Oakland, the company spent at least $25 million on 86 units, sprawled across four complexes. The addresses of the Oakland properties are: 832 Erie Street, 791 Kingston Avenue, 344 Monte Vista Avenue and 671 Vernon Street.

In Los Angeles, Mosser Capital bought the 193-unit Wilshire Royale complex in the Westlake distinct west of Downtown from MWest Holdings in December. Rents at the Wilshire Royale complex, built in 1927, currently range from $1,350 a month for a 420-square-foot studio to $2,425 per month for a two-bedroom unit, according to Mosser Capital’s website.

Mosser Capital has relied on building smaller units and adding accessory dwelling units to its properties to lower rents, unlike other workforce housing specialists that have relied on public financing. In California, many firms have relied on tax-exempt bonds from the California Statewide Communities Development Authority to lower rents at existing complexes.

Other firms, including Mosser Capital and L.A.-based developer Cityview, are able to charge “workforce” rents by lowering upfront costs, often on smaller units or projects in markets luxury developers generally would shun.