High-profile realty firm buys San Jose mobile home park east of downtown
SAN JOSE » A mobile home east of downtown San Jose has been bought by a company chaired by legendary real estate executive Sam Zell in a deal that occurred amid rising home prices in Silicon Valley.
An affiliate of Equity LifeSt yle Proper t ies, whose chairman is Zell, has bought Sunshadow, a manufactured home community in San Jose.
Sunshadow, at 1350 Panoche Ave in San Jose near the interchange of Highway 101 and Story Road, has 121 units, according to Chicago-based Equity Lifestyle.
The affiliate of Equity Lifestyle, operating as MHC Sunshadow II, bought the 13.6 acres beneath the mobile home park, according to public documents filed with Santa Clara County officials on Sept. 30.
Equity Lifestyle paid $ 12.25 million for the plot of land, the county records show.
During the months before the sale closed, the property was being marketed by Gilroy- based Renz & Renz, a commercial and investment brokerage.
“Competition for lowcost housing in the area paired with the fast-moving tech world” in Silicon Valley “makes this site sound and unique,” the Renz & Renz brochure stated.
Equity Lifestyle held a ground lease on the property the past 22 years, according to Jennifer Ludovice, a spokeswoman for the Equity firm.
“The owner recently decided to offer it for sale, and we opted to purchase the property,” Ludovice said.
Mobile home parks appear to have gained a measure of popularity among investors amid skyrocketing home prices in the Bay Area.
In August, a huge Sunnyvale mobile home park, the 800- unit Plaza del Rey, was bought by Chicago-based American Hometown Communities for $237.4 million. That Sunnyvale mobile home park is a short distance from mega campuses and big office parks dominated by the operations of Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Amazon.
As for the Sunshadow mobile home park, the marketing brochure suggested the complex is a choice purchase for the buyers.
“Tremendous upside potential in value and income” is how the Renz & Renz brochure described Sunshadow’s financial prospects.
Equity Lifestyle, according to its website, has more than 200 manufactured home communities in North America, with the great majority of those in the United States.
The real estate company will continue to operate Sunshadow as a mobile home park.
“We look forward to continuing to provide consistency in management and residency for our customers,” Ludovice said.