San Jose apartment hub near big malls is bought for $100 million-plus

SAN JOSE — A San Jose apartment complex near the city’s mega malls has been bought for just over $100 million, but the property’s price has barely budged since the last time it traded hands.

Meridian at Midtown, a 218-unit residential hub, was purchased for $105.3 million, documents filed on June 24 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.

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The latest price for the west San Jose apartment complex, located at 1432 West San Carlos St. next to Meridian Avenue, suggests values remain weak for many residential hubs in the Bay Area in the post-COVID years.

Holland Partner Group, through an affiliate, bought Meridian at Midtown, which is between the commercial hubs at Westfield Valley Fair and Santana Row and downtown San Jose.

Essex Property Trust was the seller in the deal. In 2018, Essex Property paid $104 million for the Meridian at Midtown apartments, according to county real estate files.

This means the apartment hub’s value has risen just 1.2% in about eight years, suggesting that property values for rental housing remain flabby in some Bay Area markets.

In recent years, fading values and failed loans have haunted a growing number of apartment properties in multiple Bay Area markets.

The financial setbacks have even led to foreclosures of some prominent residential hubs in the Bay Area.

Despite these difficulties, a recent report by commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap regarding the South Bay apartment market suggests that improvements are on the horizon for the sector.

“The average monthly rent will climb to $3,438, the highest in the nation,” Marcus & Millichap stated in a first-quarter report on the apartment market in Santa Clara County.

Average rents are expected to rise 4.4% during the course of 2026, Marcus & Millichap predicted.

“San Jose’s rent growth will lead all major U.S. markets, substantially outpacing the national level of just 1.8 percent,” Marcus & Millichap stated.