Student housing project in Berkeley sells for $28M

A multifamily building that serves as student housing in downtown Berkeley has sold for nearly $28 million, or $232,917 per unit, to an undisclosed buyer.

The 120-unit Telegraph Commons has single, double, and triple bed units for rent between $995 and $1,750. It’s an affordable option for students, as rents in Berkeley average $2,250, according to Zumper. Local developer SG Real Estate sold the property.

The Commons is located at 2846 Channing Way and occupies 30,000 square feet. The building went through a remodel during the pandemic and now includes new metal furniture, plus renovated common kitchens, baths and corridors. It also houses local restaurants on the first floor such as Gordo’s and China Express.

“The sellers purchased the property in February 2020 and took advantage of high vacancy brought on during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic to completely renovate the property,” Keith Manson, senior vice president at CBRE and the seller’s representative, said. “This sale price represents a near 70% increase from where the asset was purchased just 2.5 years ago.”

UC Berkeley has faced lawsuits over the lack of housing for students and has revamped its zoning codes to attempt to encourage construction, according to a report by The Chronicle.

Save Berkeley Neighborhoods filed a lawsuit against UC Berkeley in March. The organization alleges that the public university violated state the California Environmental Quality Act by increasing enrollment 30 percent during the past 17 years without properly analyzing the effects more students would have on housing.

The lawsuit prompted a judge to order the university to cut in-person fall enrollment by 2,629 students, while the city works to address the housing demands of students and residents. Today, just 22 percent of UC Berkeley’s roughly 40,000 students live in housing owned by the school, according to the report.

London based-Grosvenor recently broke ground on a 163-unit building a block away from the UC Berkeley campus. The company secured a $90 million construction loan from JP Morgan and is expected to complete construction in the second quarter of 2024.

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