Mosaic Apartments in Castro Valley Trades Hands for $23M

Mosaic Apartments in the Castro Valley has traded hands for $23 million. The participants in the deal were not disclosed. The property is located 27 miles from San Francisco and 30 miles from San Jose.

Located at 19972 Stanton Avenue in Castro Valley, Mosaic Apartments is on nearly 3 acres. The building totals 46,540 square feet and offers a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units. With a central location, the property has access to several major employment markets in the surrounding cities, with proximity to major employers like Google, Facebook, Apple, Salesforce and Visa.

In the early days of the pandemic, there was reportedly strong migration out of San Francisco that contributed to massive reductions in apartment and office rents. According to US Postal Service data, change-of-address submissions show that many residents that left the city proper merely relocated to the suburbs. According to the research, the top six destinations of residents exiting San Francisco were in other Bay Area counties, with Alameda County, where Mosaic Apartments is located, the top choice for relocation.

Early last year, research supported the trend that the Bay Area wasn’t as badly hurt by the pandemic as early reports suggested. In March, an economic letter published by Jerry Nickelsburg from the UCLA Anderson School of Management found that the data didn’t support the narrative of a mass exodus from the Bay Area. Instead, he said, there is a temporary change due to the pandemic and Nickelsburg anticipated that the market contraction could reverse once the pandemic subsides.

Rental trends during the year supported the claim. By the mid-year, Berkadia Institutional Solutions’ concessions survey found that the market rapidly rebounded in only the last 90 days. At the end of March, apartment concessions offered 7.1 weeks of free rent, and by the end of June, concessions decreased to only 3.2 weeks. That represented a 9% effective rent increase. Rents continued to increase through the second half of the year, and the city has posted price increases of 20% in the first three quarters.

Mosaic Apartments is expected to benefit from these positive trends in apartment demand and rental rates. Executive managing director Adam Levin of Marcus & Millichap brokerage team Levin Johnston represented the seller and procured the buyer in the transaction.