Eight Oakland apartment buildings are bought for $60 million-plus

OAKLAND Eight apartment buildings in Oakland have been bought for more than million in a deal that suggests values for multifamily residential properties in the East Bay s largest city are plunging The Oakland apartment buildings involved in the deal were bought for a combined million and are all located in the vicinity of Lake Merritt and Interstate documents filed on April with the Alameda County Recorder s Office show Apartment complex at Vernon Street in Oakland Google Maps The deal also shows that apartment values in Oakland continue to drift lower as more multifamily residential properties are haunted by falling prices loan defaults and even foreclosures Together the eight apartment complexes offer a combined rental units One complex is as small as five units while another contains residences according to the Apartments com and RentCafe websites PCCP also known as Pacific Coast Capital Partners a nationwide real estate capital firm acted through affiliates to buy the eight apartment complexes The sellers were affiliates that were all controlled by Yat-Pang Au an entrepreneur who is chief executive officer of Veritas Investments a real estate firm that he founded At one point Veritas was San Francisco s largest apartment landlord until a massive loan default and foreclosure torpedoed the company s ownership of apartment complexes with units Ballast Investments wound up with the San Francisco residential properties through its purchase of a delinquent million loan portfolio that was secured by the apartment units Here are a few of the details of the apartment purchases in Oakland according to Alameda County documents and commercial property databases Vernon St an -unit complex in the Adams Point neighborhood was bought for million Third Ave a -unit property known as the Vue de Lac apartments Located two blocks from Lake Merritt the complex was bought for million Vermont St a -unit apartment complex had an million purchase price Mariposa Ave a -unit apartment building was purchased for million Macarthur Blvd a -unit apartment property was bought for million Monte Cresta Ave a -unit apartment complex brought a million purchase price and Orange St an -unit building was bought for million Staten Ave a -unit property was bought for million The combined price of million was a jaw-dropping below the total assessed value of the eight apartment properties As of January the total value of the apartment buildings was million according to estimates posted by the Alameda County Assessor s Office Taken separately the individual apartment properties were also bought at prices far below their respective assessed values Jolts caused by slumping property values extend well beyond a survey of the local real estate market system Property value trends can imperil revenue for an array of masses agencies If real estate values turn soft in a jurisdiction that could squeeze a crucial revenue stream for cities counties regional agencies and school districts