Vista Investment Group recently announced the purchase of the 221-unit, garden-style Northridge Apartments in Pleasant Hill, Calif., which is about 20 miles northeast of Oakland. The $91 million transaction was initiated in partnership with Tokyu Land US Corp. (TLUS), which is a subsidiary of the Japanese-owned Tokyu Land Corp.
Stanford Jones, Salvatore Saglimbeni, Philip Saglimbeni, and Alex Tartaglia from Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap, represented the seller, Equity Residential. The firm had owned the property for more than 20 years. “The property’s attractive location, combined with the ongoing need for high-quality, affordable multifamily assets, make it an ideal value-add opportunity for Vista and TLUS,” said IPA senior managing director Salvatore Saglimbeni.
The new owners are anticipating an influx of renters who have been impacted by the housing shortage around the Bay Area. “Renters who have been priced out of expensive markets like San Francisco and Oakland are migrating to the East Bay in search of more affordable alternatives,” said Vista Investment Group president Jonathan Barach. “They are finding that Pleasant Hill has a great school system, a robust amenity base, and rents at a considerable discount to neighboring cities Walnut Creek, Lafayette, and Orinda.”
The community is adjacent to Diablo Valley College, 2.5 miles from the Bay Area Rapid Transit Concord station, and close to Interstate 680. The vintage 1974 property is a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment homes in 16 low-rise buildings on a 6.63-acre site. The amenities include a clubhouse, two swimming pools, a fitness center, and laundry facilities. Vista’s capital improvement plan includes renovating apartment interiors as units roll over.
Vista and TLUS both see the deal as a great fixer-upper, with improvements also planned for common areas and exteriors. “This acquisition fits well within our value-add investment strategy and marks our first acquisition in the Bay Area,” said Nobuhide Kashiwagi, president of TLUS. “We are excited about the trajectory of growth in the market and feel Northridge Apartments is well positioned to capture that momentum.”
