San Francisco Bay Area apartment sells for $245m

Essex Property Trust has sold the 296-unit Sharon Green Apartments in Menlo Park, Calif., a submarket of San Francisco, to Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and Maximus Real Estate Partners. The sales price is $245 million, or $828,000 per apartment unit.

Essex plans to redeploy a substantial portion of the proceeds into new acquisitions, and the REIT has agreed to acquire two properties for a contract price of $166 million. The properties are less than two years old, comprise 376 apartment units, and are located in downtown Los Angeles and San Jose. The company expects these acquisitions to close before year-end.

According to Real Capital Analytics, the transaction is the second-highest-priced deal completed in the Peninsula market this year. It follows the 996,272-square-foot Menlo Science & Technology Park transaction between Facebook and Prologis; the property sold for $395 million.

RCA says the Essex apartment sale is the sixth-highest-p