Catalyst, CalCHA Acquire 2 California Communities for $231M

Aster. Image courtesy of Catalyst Housing Group

Catalyst Housing Group, in partnership with California Community Housing Agency (CalCHA), has continued its plans to bring more middle-income units to California following the acquisition of two communities.

Catalyst acquired Aster in Dublin, Calif., for $163 million and Mira Vista Hills in Antioch, Calif., for $68 million.

Jordan Moss, founder of Catalyst, told Multi-Housing News that the company acquired the 92 percent-occupied Aster from Bay West Development and Berkshire Residential Investments, while the 96 percent-occupied Mira Vista Hills was purchased from Reliant Group.

The 313-unit Aster offers studio, one- and two-bedroom floorplans that range in size from 603 to 1,248 square feet. Built in 2017, the community offers 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and amenities including a pool, fitness center and parking garage with electric vehicle charging stations. Aster is also located next to the West Dublin/Pleasanton BART station.

The smaller of the two communities, Mira Vista Hills offers 280 units in one- and two-bedroom floorplans from 488 to 885 square feet. Catalyst will be conducting substantial renovations to this community that will upgrade the building’s exteriors, unit interiors and common areas as well as add quality of life enhancements.

The new ownership will convert the market-rate units at these two communities into rent-restricted apartments for middle-income households. Moss told MHN that these units will serve those who earn generally between 60 to 120 percent of the area’s median income, which are typically essential workers who earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing limits, but cannot afford the market-rate units in their communities.

BUILDING FOR MIDDLE-INCOME

Catalyst has been steadily acquiring California communities with plans to convert them into rent-restricted units since the company partnered with CalCHA in 2019. Since then, Catalyst has acquired more than $1.3 billion of multifamily properties across California. The portfolio includes two communities in Southern California and seven in Northern California, totaling more than 2,700 units.

Earlier this month, the partnership acquired the two Southern California properties and a Northern California community for a total of $525 million. Moss told MHN that the company has additional acquisitions in the near-term pipeline, which follows the company’s aggressive expansion plans throughout California.