Kennedy Wilson targets California rental market with $84m buy

The Beverly Hills, California-based real estate investment firm is investing in the San Jose, California multifamily market, an area it says has strong rental growth profiles for residential property.

Kennedy Wilson Multifamily Management Group, a subsidiary of real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson, and insurer The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, have acquired the Avalon at Blossom Hill property in San Jose, California.

The multifamily complex, which traded hands for $84 million, is to be renamed Saybrook Pointe. The property is comprised of 324 residential units and also features a fitness center and 549 parking units. The pair are planning $4.5 million of upgrades to the property, according to the firm, including upgrades to unit interiors.

Last year, Beverly Hills-based Kennedy Wilson acquired a 331-unit rental property in San Jose, called The Grove, for the sum of $46 million. San Jose, California is one of the country’s strongest rental markets, said Robert Hart, KW Multifamily president and chief executive officer, owing to the area’s expanding technology and related industries.

Kennedy Wilson has offices throughout the US and Japan. Its fund management division, KW Fund Management, focuses on the acquisition, management, repositioning and disposition of real estate assets.