AvalonBay Communities, Inc. is a publicly traded

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

that invests in apartments. As of January 31, 2021, the company owned 79,856 apartment units in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

, the New York City metropolitan area, the

Washington, D.C. metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is the 3rd largest owner of apartments in the United States.

History

The company was formed by the 1998 merger between Avalon Properties Inc. and Bay Apartment Communities Inc. The merged company owned 40,506 apartment units. Avalon Properties was formed in 1993 as a spinoff from

Trammell Crow Company Trammell Crow Company is a real estate development, investment, and property management company. It has been a subsidiary of CBRE Group since 2006. History The company was founded by Trammell Crow Fred Trammell Crow (June 10, 1914 – January 1 ...

and was led by Richard Michaux, as Chairman and CEO and Chuck Berman, President, COO and Board member. Bay Apartment Communities was formed in 1994 from the apartment business established by Mike Meyer in 1978. In February 2001, Bryce Blair was named CEO, and the additional role of Chairman in January 2002. In 2003, the company sold $450 million in assets to reinvest the proceeds in its development pipeline. In 2007, the company was added to the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of ...

. In 2011, Timothy J. Naughton was named CEO, and the additional role of chairman in January 2013. On February 27, 2013, AvalonBay Communities and

Equity Residential Equity Residential is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in apartments. As of December 31, 2021, the company owned or had investments in 310 properties consisting of 80,407 apartment units in Southern California, San Fr ...

closed a $9 billion deal to acquire Archstone from

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...

. In 2017, a lawsuit was filed by former tenants of Avalon at Edgewater, an AvalonBay community in

Edgewater, New Jersey Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a population of 11,513,/nowiki>''sic''/nowiki> Hill Road was an important route to the top o ...

, who allege that AvalonBay breached its duty of care by allegedly violating fire standards and safety procedures following a five-alarm fire at the community in 2015. The class action lawsuit by former Russell Building at the Avalon at Edgewater tenants was settled in 2017. Tenants were able to submit a claim for full losses from the fire by September 11, 2017.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control American companies established in 1978 Financial services companies established in 1978 Real estate companies established in 1978 1978 establishments in Virginia Companies based in Arlington County, Virginia Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Real estate investment trusts of the United States