Michael McCann and Thomas Whitesell

Slow and steady wins the race for Kennedy Wilson’s California business — particularly when it comes to the multifamily market.

In 2025, Kennedy Wilson acquired Toll Brothers’ Apartment Living platform, helping the firm become a leader in residential real estate across the country. This is a vital area of focus for Kennedy Wilson’s California office, where the firm has 80 investments spread among 7,900 rental housing units, 6.9 million commercial square feet, $2.7 billion of loan investments and $7 billion of assets under management.

Though not as active in California as in other states over the last year, this is a multifamily market that the firm steadfastly believes in. 

“Our activity has been slower than what we want it to be, but we’re still very, very active,” West Coast executive Michael McCann said. “We’ve closed on a property in Santa Monica that we’re looking forward to. We have spent considerable time, resources and money to finish the entitlements and permitting process on a 360-unit project in Dana Point and a 276-unit project in Warner Center. 

“Those are some of the projects that other development groups have had to let go of or sit on. Instead, we’ve been moving forward, maybe at a little bit slower pace, but, nevertheless, with a lot of optimism and enthusiasm for the next few years.” 

A stretch of inflation and interest rate concerns over the last few years led to more caution in the debt and equity markets and a pullback by some lending sources, leading many developers to struggle to get projects funded. But not Kennedy Wilson. 

“For developers, it’s been close to impossible to get projects capitalized, no matter how good they looked on paper, and that’s been that way for a solid three years,” said Thomas Whitesell, who oversees debt. “And, over that time, sellers have gotten very uncomfortable with some of their properties that they’ve really needed or wanted to move. But, also, developers have run out of time from those sellers. It was happening a lot, but we haven’t had to walk away from a deal yet. And it looks like we’re seeing the light at the tunnel.”