Mega-landlord Vivmark Residential provided a glimpse of its Southern California portfolio.
The real estate investment trust valued its 20-building, 747-unit garden apartment community in Burbank at $241.4 million – or $323,207 per unit – last month, according to property records filed in Los Angeles County. The Aug. 17 deed was recorded on the same day AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential completed their $70 billion merger, creating the largest apartment landlord in the U.S. with 180,000 units and a pipeline of 11,100 under construction.
The deal valued the 20-building portfolio – located near Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Studios –17% below Burbank’s average multifamily sale price of $387,900 per unit in the first quarter of 2026, according to a market report by Marcus & Millichap.
The handover will also trigger a tax reassessment under California’s Proposition 13. Vivmark expects to see a $50 million dollar impact from tax resets across its California portfolio, which includes some 19,381 units in Southern California and another 11,241 units in the Bay Area, according to its most recent quarterly report and an investor presentation earlier this month.
A similar transfer also occurred recently in the Bay Area, where Vivmark valued seven apartment complexes at $741.8 million, or about $402,496 per unit, the Mercury News reported.
The Burbank apartments – known as AVA Burbank – span four blocks from North Pass Avenue to West Sarah Street and were constructed between 1961 and 1969. Marketing material describes the community as recently renovated, with “urban-inspired” studios and one- to three-bedroom units, furnished-rental options, pools and a fitness center. The portfolio pencils out to $439 per square foot across 550,000 square feet.
A spokesperson for Vivmark dubbed the portfolio as “legacy AvalonBay properties” and declined to comment further on the transaction.
‘Merger of Equals’
Arlington, Virginia-based AvalonBay and Chicago-based Equity Residential announced their all-stock “merger of equals” in May, combining AvalonBay’s 98,000 apartments with Equity Residential’s 85,000.
Shareholders overwhelmingly approved the deal on Aug. 12, with former AvalonBay chief executive Benjamin Schall retaining that title to lead the new entity. Its shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker VMRK Aug. 18.
Hoya Capital Real Estate’s David Auerbach told CNBC the logic behind the merger was simple – “scale, liquidity, balance sheet efficiency and overhead synergies.” And he predicted apartment real estate investment trusts are “ripe” for more consolidation, given the high fixed costs of leasing and property management, including advancements in Wi-Fi infrastructure, online lease applications and credit-check systems across a bigger portfolio.
Vivmark projected $125 million in annual net operating cost savings within 18 months of closing, according to its Aug. 17 investor presentation.
The RealPage fallout
Large-scale apartment REITs, including AvalonBay and Equity Residential, came under fire in 2022 after a ProPublica investigation claimed many were participating in a “cartel-like” price-fixing scheme enabled by property analytics platform RealPage. In May, Equity Residential agreed to pay $56 million to settle antitrust claims against it while denying any wrongdoing. AvalonBay, meanwhile, continues to face similar allegations filed by Washington D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb. That litigation is ongoing after the merger, according to firm’s July 30 financial disclosure.
The company’s track record in California also includes some costly legal battles. In February, AvalonBay reached a $42.7 million settlement in a federal class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California that accused the company of improperly imposing late fees on tenants in violation of state law. That settlement is still awaiting a judge’s final confirmation, according to court filings and Vivmark’s financial disclosure.
But in its new post-merger era, Vivmark is setting out to become “the most trusted and best-performing rental housing company in America,” Schall said in a statement earlier this month.
After the merger was announced, S&P Global Ratings upgraded its long-term issuer credit rating for Vivmark from A- to A, citing new operating efficiencies and continued “conservative financial policy” at the firm.
