One of the newest apartment buildings in California’s East Bay has sold, ranking among the region's largest multifamily deal in recent years.
San Mateo-based Acacia Capital acquired The Beacon, a 275-unit complex at 3510 Beacon Blvd. in Fremont, for $126 million, according to documents filed with Alameda County. The deal is the priciest in the East Bay since 2022, when Palo Alto-based Pacific Urban Investors bought 246-unit Bidwell Park, also in Fremont, for $127 million.
Fremont, located 25 miles south of Oakland, is the region’s largest multifamily market with 25,000 units, according to CoStar data. The vacancy rate of 4.2% hasn’t experienced much movement during the past 10 years despite a spike in construction activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s vacancy rate is lower than the greater East Bay average of 6.8%.
Still, Fremont only had $218 million in apartment sales in 2023 — down from $653 million in the prior year and $1.2 billion in 2021 — as high interest rates and other market uncertainty weighed on sales volume.
The East Bay’s multifamily sector is proving to be more resilient than its office counterpart. The product type's vacancy rate is 14.1%, its highest point in 25 years, according to CoStar data. The region "has been unable to find new footing after the shock of 2020," according to a market analysis.
The Beacon opened in 2022 and features studios, one- and two-bedroom units with average monthly rents of $3,319, about $1,000 higher than the East Bay average.
In another recent East Bay apartment sale, Los Angeles-based Cityview acquired the 130-unit Tralee Village Apartments in Dublin for $46 million last month, according to previous reporting by CoStar News. The 2008-era property also commands higher rents than the greater market average.
