The Levin Johnston team at Marcus & Millichap has notched two more multifamily wins on the San Francisco Peninsula this month, closing a 16-unit building in San Mateo and a 15-unit property in downtown Palo Alto for a combined roughly $17.9 million. For a region where small apartment buildings often trade like collectibles, the pair of sales adds to the steady trickle of investors chasing income in a market that is still short on supply.
Levin Johnston, the Marcus & Millichap group led by Palo Alto-based executive managing directors Adam Levin and Robert Johnston, represented the sellers in both transactions and, in one deal, also brought in the buyer, according to Levin Johnston. The team’s online press and past-transaction pages highlight a regular stream of Bay Area multifamily deals and position the duo among the region’s most active brokers.
Deal Details And Pricing
Public records and listings show that the San Mateo property at 225 Catalpa St. traded for $7.75 million. Records on Redfin indicate the 16-unit building closed in April 2026, which works out to about $484,000 per apartment, a relatively modest per-unit figure compared with many core Silicon Valley sales.
As reported by Connect CRE, the Hawthorne Apartments at 325-327 Hawthorne Ave. in downtown Palo Alto sold for roughly $10.15 million. Listing data from PropertyShark shows the 15-unit property had been marketed at about $10.5 million before it changed hands.
“Increasingly, investors who have accumulated wealth through the technology sector, like the buyers in these transactions, are seeking opportunities to transition capital into income-producing real estate assets that offer cash flow, diversification, and long-term value creation,” Adam Levin said, according to Connect CRE. He pointed to Peninsula apartment communities as vehicles that can provide cash flow, tax advantages and exposure to solid local market fundamentals.
The latest transactions land in what has already been a busy year for the Levin Johnston team, which has completed multiple multifamily closings totaling tens of millions of dollars in volume across the Bay Area, according to CityBiz. Smaller deals like these allow individual investors and family offices to buy into income properties without going head-to-head with institutional players for larger portfolios.
Side by side, the Catalpa sale pencils out to roughly $484,000 per unit, while the Palo Alto trade implies about $677,000 per unit. That spread underscores how downtown Palo Alto continues to command a premium, even for older buildings. For renters, nothing changes overnight, but the activity does signal ongoing investor interest that can influence future rent levels and renovation plans.
Levin Johnston and Marcus & Millichap remain active in marketing Peninsula multifamily assets, and local owners and tenants will be watching to see whether new buyers hold these properties as long-term rentals or reposition them. For those tracking the numbers, public listings and county records provide the official word on pricing and closing dates.
