Workforce housing real estate firm buys San Jose apartment complex

SAN JOSE — A real estate venture that specializes in creating affordable housing for workers has bought a big apartment complex on Southwest Expressway in San Jose for more than $60 million.

Bridge Workforce & Affordable Housing and Ethos Real Estate, acting through an affiliate, paid just over $61.1 million to buy Sofi at Los Gatos Creek, documents filed on Dec. 31, 2024, with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.

The 193-unit complex at 2130 Southwest Expressway was built in 1969, according to Apartments.com.

The purchase price was 57% higher than the property’s assessed value of $38.8 million as estimated by the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office in January 2024.

Sofi at Los Gatos Creek is slated to be kept largely affordable for a wide swath of the workforce, according to a covenant between the buying alliance and the California Municipal Finance Authority.

The covenant, which was filed along with the grant deed for the property purchase, detailed the finance authority’s intention to keep the apartment complex affordable for the average worker.

This agreement dovetails with the Bridge Workforce firm’s business model and housing philosophy.

“Bridge Workforce & Affordable Housing invests in multifamily communities where at least 51%-plus of our units are occupied by families earning less than 80% of the area’s median income,” the company states on its website.

The Santa Clara County area median income for a four-person household was $184,300 as of May 2024. The 80% threshold would work out to a yearly income of $147,440.

Bridge Workforce and Ethos Real Estate teamed up to buy the apartment complexes, county real estate documents show. Like Bridge Workforce, Ethos seeks to tackle an ongoing housing shortage in the United States.

Ethos and Bridge also joined forces in October 2024 to preserve affordable housing in the Orange County city of Santa Ana.

Bridge Workforce believes affordable housing to accommodate middle-class workers is badly needed.

“There is a dire need for workforce and affordable housing,” Bridge states on its website.