Bell Partners has added a major South San Francisco apartment property to its Bay Area portfolio, paying $130 million for the 195-unit Celeste. The eight-story building, which was completed in 2025, is 95% occupied and is slated to be renamed Bell South City II, giving Bell a 455-unit cluster around Cypress Avenue.
The roughly $667,000-per-apartment deal was reported by The Real Deal, which said Celeste was sold by its developer, Sares Regis Group of Northern California. Sares Regis also developed the neighboring 260-unit Cadence, which Bell bought in 2022 for $206 million before renaming it Bell South City.
Bell’s South City Cluster Sits Near Caltrain And Genentech
Celeste’s leasing website describes the property as a studio-through-three-bedroom community at 401 Cypress Avenue and highlights its walkable access to the rebuilt Caltrain station. Bell’s nearby holdings are also a short drive from Oyster Point and Genentech’s headquarters, according to The Real Deal, giving the company a transit-connected foothold in one of the Peninsula’s biggest biotech and technology employment centers.
The location is being added to a market that has suddenly become much more competitive for renters. CoStar reported that San Francisco’s average apartment rent rose 6.3% year over year in early 2026, while vacancy stood at 4.6%; the outlet linked the renewed demand to the growth of artificial-intelligence jobs and the city’s limited new supply.
Celeste Expanded A Downtown Housing Wave
Celeste was the second and final phase of the Cadence master plan, following the first 260-unit building that opened in 2019. San Francisco YIMBY reported during construction that the project would add 195 homes near downtown and within walking distance of Caltrain, while The Real Deal said Sares Regis has developed roughly half of the approximately 1,000 apartments added to South San Francisco’s downtown district since 2010.
For Bell, the purchase lands shortly after the Greensboro, North Carolina-based apartment operator completed its combination with BGO. Bell Partners said the combined platform now represents about $100 billion in assets under management, while its own portfolio includes approximately 65,000 apartment homes. In South San Francisco, the immediate play is simpler: one branded apartment community next to another, in a neighborhood where AI-fueled demand is making new rental supply look increasingly valuable.
