Greystar Sells San Diego Community for $309M

MG Properties has completed the acquisition of Park 12 Apartments, a 718-unit high-rise community in downtown San Diego. The property was purchased for $309 million from Greystar.

This transaction marks the largest apartment acquisition in San Diego since 2020 and the third largest in the area’s history, according to the buyer.

The property is currently 94 percent occupied, according to Yardi Matrix data. It offers studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units, which all include washers/dryers, high ceilings and digital locks.

Common-area amenities include a clubhouse, fitness center, business center and two swimming pools. There are 991 parking spaces. Rents at the Park 12 average $3,769 a month in 2025, up from $3,433 a month in 2021.

Built in 2018, the property is in the Ballpark Village masterplan and adjacent to Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. It offers stadium views and city views of downtown San Diego, along with 43,000 square feet of retail, including restaurants, a brewery and café.

Park 12 has a WalkScore of 97 out of 100, meaning that almost all daily needs can be undertaken on foot. Residents have close access to San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, which also has a high concentration of restaurants and retail.

Geoff Boler and Joseph Smolen with Eastdil Secured represented Greystar in the deal. Fannie Mae provided financing, which was arranged by Greg Stampley and Lee Redmond, also of Eastdil Secured.

MG Properties has been an active purchaser of multifamily recently. Over the last 12 months, the company has added 18 properties to their portfolio, totaling over $2.1 billion. One of these deals was the acquisition of Pulse Millenia, a 273-unit multifamily property in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, Calif., for $116 million.

San Diego development still brisk

The metro San Diego apartment market came in at 4.9 percent vacant in the fourth quarter of 2024, edging up from 4.7 percent a year earlier, according to Kidder Mathews. Average asking rents barely budging in that period—$2,351 a month at the end of 2024, compared to $2,331 a year earlier.

Development is still brisk, with 7,211 units completed in 2024, up from 6,501 the year before, or more than a 10 percent increase, notes Kidder Mathews. Some 11,118 units were under construction at the end of 2024, down about 18.2 percent compared with the end of 2023. Net absorption of San Diego-area apartments has spiked recently, from 1,258 in 2023 to over three times as many in 2024, or 5,259 units.

In San Diego multifamily investment sales, the average sales price per unit has mushroomed over the last decade. In 2015, the average price per unit was just under $2,000, Kidder Mathews reports. By 2024, the average price per unit had nearly touched $4,000.