Bell Partners Buys San Francisco-Area Community

Bell Mt. Tam. Image courtesy of Bell Partners

Bell Partners has completed its third acquisition of a multifamily property in California this year. The company acquired Tam Ridge Residences in Corte Madera, Calif., on behalf of its Bell Core Fund I investors. The seller was MacFarlane Partners, according to Yardi Matrix data, who developed the community in 2017.

The new ownership will rename the 180-unit community, located at 199 Tamal Vista Blvd., to Bell Mt. Tam. The apartment community offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units that range in size from 600 to 1,307 square feet, according to Yardi Matrix data, and are spread throughout six buildings. The units feature high ceilings and have either patios or decks.

Bell Mt. Tam’s amenities include a half-acre park with a heated pool and spa, rooftop terrace, community kitchen, firepit lounge and fitness center. MacFarlane Partners also built the community with 3,100 square feet of retail, which currently includes grocery tenant Andy’s Market.

Bell Mt. Tam’s location puts it walking distance from the Larkspur Ferry terminal that connects to San Francisco’s central business district. Residents also have nearby access to Highway 101 that also connects to the city. The community is also located near a number of outdoor recreation destinations, including the Corte Madera Marsh Ecological Reserve, Mount Tamalpais, Stinson Beach, the San Francisco Bay and Golden State National Recreation Area.

Nickolay Bochilo, executive vice president of investments at Bell Partners, told Multi-Housing News that the community was approximately 92 percent occupied at closing.

THIRD CALIFORNIA ACQUISITION IN 2021

The acquisition of Bell Mt. Tam joins two other transactions that Bell Partners made in California this year. In September, the company acquired Bell Hanover Center, a 395-unit community in Los Angeles, to continue the expansion of its West Coast portfolio. The September acquisition was preceded by the purchase of the 232-unit Bell Rohnert Park in Rohnert Park, Calif., in February. Further north on the West Coast, Bell Partners also acquired a 202-unit community in a Seattle suburb in May.

Bochilo told MHN that Bell Partners will continue looking at the Los Angeles and San Francisco markets as they both have strong fundamentals due to having a diversified, gateway economic base anchored by top universities and a talented labor pool, a regulatory environment that limits new construction and unaffordable for-sale housing.

”Both the Los Angeles and San Francisco metro areas are markets we are targeting for investment based on long-term apartment fundamentals,” Bochilo told MHN. “Current investment market conditions offer a contrarian opportunity to acquire assets in well-located submarkets of gateway coastal metros that have had more stringent pandemic lockdowns, and corresponding delayed economic recovery.”