Kennedy Wilson Multifamily & The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America Acquire Major San Jose Apartment Community

SAN JOSE, Calif. , Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Kennedy Wilson Multifamily Management Group (KW Multifamily) and The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian) today announced the acquisition of a major multifamily property in San Jose, CA. The property is Avalon at Blossom Hill (to be re-named Saybrook Pointe), a 324-unit apartment community developed by AvalonBay Communities in 1995. KW Multifamily and Guardian purchased Saybrook Pointe for $84 million and intend to invest an additional $4.5 million to upgrade and revitalize the property. Freddie Mac is providing the senior debt. The buyer and seller were represented by Bill Huberty and Sean Deasy of CBRE.

Robert Hart, president & CEO of KW Multifamily, noted that the Saybrook Pointe acquisition represents Kennedy Wilson's first partnership with Guardian. 'As one of the nation's premiere corporations, Guardian has many options in selecting investments and partners. We're therefore delighted that it chose to join with us in this transaction. We're hopeful that our relationship with Guardian will grow and prosper in the coming years.'

'As a mutual life insurance company, we are committed to making investments that benefit our policyholders,' said Robert O'Rourke, Managing Director & Head of Real Estate Investments for Guardian. 'The growth of our equity real estate portfolio is an important part of our efforts to maximize long-term policyholder value. We are focused on finding strong and qualified partners such as Kennedy Wilson to build on our already solid equity real estate portfolio.'

Hart went on to say that the acquisition of Saybrook Pointe was in line with his company's strategy of acquiring and repositioning under-valued apartment assets in major urban and suburban markets in California and the Pacific Northwest. 'This community was built to condominium standards and offers the type of upgraded amenities not usually found in apartment projects of this kind. We believe that with the implementation of our tightly focused rehabilitation program, we can compete with any luxury apartment property in San Jose's Almaden sub-market.'

Saybrook Pointe consists of 16 three-story, garden-style buildings plus a single-story fitness center and leasing offices, situated on 7.5 acres. The project contains 90 one bedroom-one bathroom, 210 two bedroom-two bath and 24 three bedroom-three bath units ranging in size from 768 to 1,289 square feet. There are a total of 549 on-site parking spaces.

'The project's superior location, within walking distance to several major retail and lifestyle centers, is in the heart of the rapidly growing south San Jose sub-market,' said Edward Ring, Senior Managing Director of KW Multifamily. 'The apartments are fully appointed with nine foot ceilings, individual laundry rooms, separate dining areas and locking storage spaces accessible from private patios or balconies.' Ring noted that KW Multifamily plans to modernize interiors of all the residences. 'By thoroughly upgrading and modernizing the kitchens, baths and flooring, along with making selective improvements to the common area amenities, our project will compete with the highest caliber apartment projects in the area.'

KW Multifamily is no stranger to the San Jose market. A little over a year ago, the company acquired The Grove, a 331-unit rental property for $45.75 million . This was its second acquisition in the San Jose area. It previously bought and subsequently sold the 200-unit Creekside Apartments. 'We are attracted to the San Jose market because of its excellent fundamentals,' Hart continued. 'It's one of the nation's strongest rental markets with excellent underlying economic expansion in technology and related industries. Additionally, there are significant barriers to entry severely constraining the supply of new apartments with only 749 units anticipated to come online in the entire San Jose area this year.'

KW Multifamily Management Group is a subsidiary of Kennedy Wilson, a Beverly Hills, CA based real estate services and investment firm. Founded in 1977, Kennedy Wilson has 20 offices throughout the U.S. and Japan . It seeks value-added opportunities in partnership with its clients in pursuit of above-market investor returns and higher real estate values. KW Multifamily is actively involved in the acquisition, repositioning, management, leasing and disposition of apartment assets in the Western United States . Over its nine-year history, the company has purchased approximately 14,000 apartments in California , Oregon and Washington . For further information, visit http://www.kennedywilson.com.

About Guardian

Founded in 1860, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, New York, NY (Guardian) is one of the largest mutual life insurance companies in the United States . As of December 31, 2007 , Guardian and its subsidiaries had $41.3 billion in assets (on a consolidated statutory basis). With close to 3,000 financial representatives and 80 agencies nationwide, Guardian and its subsidiaries protect individuals, small business owners, and their employees with life, disability, health, long-term care, and dental insurance products, and offer 401(k), annuities and other financial products and trust services. Specializing in the small to midsize business market, Guardian's Group business unit serves more than 120,000 employers, 6 million employees and their families. More information about Guardian can be obtained at http://www.GuardianLife.com.

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