Downtown San Diego’s biggest apartment building sells for $309M

Downtown San Diego’s largest apartment complex has sold for $309 million.

The 718-unit Park 12 complex, which completed construction in 2019, is next to Petco Park and gets a showcase every San Diego Padres home game as it towers over the eastern half of the ballpark.

Park 12’s sale is the second-largest for an apartment complex in San Diego County’s history, according to data from real estate tracker CoStar. The biggest was $312.5 million for another downtown complex, Vantage Pointe, in December 2020.

South Carolina developer Greystar said in 2019 that the project cost around $400 million to construct, making this week’s sale a bargain for San Diego-based MG Properties.

Greystar did not respond to a request for comment. Local analysts were unclear why the company would sell, seemingly, at a discount. However, Greystar is one of the largest real estate developers in the U.S., with $78 billion in assets under management, and regularly sells to fund projects elsewhere.

The company announced in August it was expanding into infrastructure projects — data centers, clean power, cell towers — so the Park 12 sale could mark a shifting of priorities.

MG Properties now owns around 3,800 units in San Diego County. The Sorrento Valley company, formed in 1992, says it has more than 32,000 apartments across California, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Oregon.

With the purchase, MG is still pretty far off from being one of the bigger landlords in San Diego County. The biggest is R&V Management with about 11,000 units, followed by Blackstone and Garden Homes, with roughly 7,000 units each.

“We believe this is an exceptional opportunity to acquire one of San Diego’s most iconic properties,” Jeff Gleiberman, president of MG Properties, said in a statement. “This investment is consistent with our strategy of making long-term investments in high quality properties.”

Park 12 has a 6.1% vacancy rate, very low for East Village (13.5% average), and commands some of the highest rents in the area. CoStar said the average for a studio was $2,342 a month; for a one-bedroom, $3,021; and a two-bedroom, $4,342.

While rents have been largely flat across San Diego County, and much of the nation, for the last year, Park 12’s higher rents and vacancy rate likely put it in a better position for long-term growth.

The property also has several penthouses that rent for eye-popping amounts. When it opened in 2019 it had a penthouse on the 35th floor going for $20,000 a month. The expansive two-bedroom apartment had 28-foot windows that offered panoramic views of all of downtown, Coronado, the ocean, San Diego Bay and Mexico.

According to the Park 12 website, that unit is now rented out — it’s unclear if it is still $20,000 a month — but it did have another penthouse available on the 34th floor for $8,766 a month.

The complex’s high rent comes with a lot of amenities. There is a 24-hour gym, a washer and dryer in each unit, two pools, 14 common areas, a clubroom with a kitchen, game room, dedicated lockers for packages and two dog parks (one for small dogs, one for big dogs).

A hot spot for renters, often seen during big Petco Park events, is an observation deck on the 32nd floor with views into the ballpark.

Rare for downtown apartments, Park 12 has a partnership with Airbnb that lets renters put their units up for lease up to 90 days a year.

The complex made a bit of a stir on social media in 2018 when The San Diego Union-Tribune included a photo of a bathroom on the 32nd floor in a unit next to the observation tower. The Padres were in the middle of a rough stretch of games, later finishing that season last in the National League West, and sitting on a toilet to watch the team created plenty of light-hearted jokes among fans.