Acacia Capital Buys Redwood City Apartments for $184 Million

Acacia Capital bought a 304-unit apartment property in Redwood City for $184 million last month. That’s nearly $29 million less than what seller Nuveen, a TIAA subsidiary, paid for the 257,000-square-foot building in 2016.

Walker & Dunlop facilitated $113 million in financing for the Class A complex at 299 Franklin Street, which was developed by Greystar and completed in 2015. Fannie Mae came through with an “aggressive offer” as the lender, according to a Walker & Dunlop press release. The ten-year fixed rate on the interest only loan is 4.9%, according to a Walker & Dunlop rep. The process took only 19 days, with the application signed on Sept. 27, rate locked on Sept. 30, and deal closure on Oct. 16.

Salvatore Saglimbeni of Marcus & Millichap brokered the deal, according to Traded. He did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Acacia COO Todd Darling and CIO Amanda Linderg led the San Mateo-based buying team and Nuveen’s Newport Beach-based Director of Acquisitions and Dispositions for the West Sean Gulian led for the seller’s side. Nuveen did not reply to a request for comment.

TIAA paid $212.65 million for the complex in 2016, according to public records, so the deal represents a loss for the New York-based investment advisory firm. But in the San Francisco metro market, which includes San Mateo County, the average price per unit is about $350,000, according to a fourth quarter report from Marcus & Millichap, so the approximately $605,000 that Acacia paid for the apartment community with studio, one- and two-bedroom residences, including 11 direct-access townhomes, is a premium in the current market. San Mateo County deals have concentrated between Burlingame and Menlo Park, according to the report, and Redwood City falls right in the middle of that span.

Rents in the county and further south in Santa Clara have hit double-digit growth this year, according to an October report from listing site Zumper, as return-to-work policies have kicked in at some of the biggest tech companies. Menlo Park rents have seen the biggest jump, up 20 percent year over year.

TIAA, a teachers and government employees retirement fund, also bought the 132-unit Township Apartments in Redwood City for $83 million in 2014. It sold that property in 2019 for $88.65 million to Essex Property Trust. TIAA has about $1.3 trillion under management, according to its website.