Gerding Edlen Surrenders Apartment Highrise in Oakland

Gerding Edlen has surrendered a 24-story apartment highrise in Downtown Oakland to its lender after failing to pay a $90 million loan on the property.

The Portland, Ore.-based developer now known as Edlen & Company signed a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure relinquishing the 206-unit tower at 1700 Webster Street, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The Union Labor Life Insurance, the Washington, D.C.-based lender, took control of the ZO Oakland Apartments at Webster and 17th Street.

An affiliate of Gerding Edlen developed the tower in 2019. It was the first high-rise to break ground in Oakland since 2008.

In 2020, the unidentified affiliate took out a $90 million loan from The Union Labor Life Insurance. When Union Labor Life took back the property, the unpaid balance was $89.8 million.

The occupancy of the apartment complex isn’t known. What the life insurance firm wants to do with the residential tower isn’t clear.

Lenders typically prefer to find new owners for properties they seize due to a non-performing or delinquent loan, according to the Mercury News.

The ZO Oakland Apartments, with 206 studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, is across the street from the historic Howden Building and three blocks from the Fox Theater and Lake Merritt.

The 175,100-square-foot tower has a rooftop deck with a pool and indoor and outdoor lounge, an outdoor terrace with fire pits and barbecue grills, a fitness center, play area for pets and a pet spa. It has 2,200 square feet of ground-floor retail, according to LoopNet.

Rents range from $1,950 for a studio to $3,900 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, according to Apartments.com.

Gerding Edlen was founded in 1996 by Mark Edlen and the late Bob Gerding. In 2021, the firm was bought by its employees and renamed Edlen & Company, according to the Portland Business Journal. Its investment management arm was formed into a separate company, Green Cities.

— Dana Bartholomew