Derek Helgeson

BlackRock’s 2026 activity in California was defined by the largest multifamily purchase in the nation in the last two years, when the firm acquired 3,620 apartment units in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties from Camden. The $1.6 billion deal included assets such as Camden Crown Valley, a 380-unit apartment building in Mission Viejo; Camden Landmark, a 469-unit complex in Ontario; and the Camden in Hollywood, a 287-unit property in the center of L.A.’s premier film neighborhood.  

The deal was quarterbacked by Derek Helgeson, a direct investment specialist of BlackRock’s U.S. real estate investment platform, which sits under the firm’s $28 billion global real estate umbrella. 

A graduate of the University of Southern California, Helgeson joined BlackRock in 1996, and has been based out of the West Coast during his career. 

In a statement after the deal was announced, Helgeson called Southern California “one of the most durable multifamily markets in the country,” and noted that Camden had left BlackRock with a portfolio of multifamily assets that had been kept to “high standards” of property management. 

“Across our platform, we continue to find opportunities where our scale, local expertise and execution allow us to invest in high-quality assets on compelling terms,” said Helgeson. 

Moreover, the private equity giant got in on the solar power game. Through HPS Investment Partners, a firm within BlackRock Private Financing Solutions, the firm provided CIM Group’s Permanent Power Company with $400 million to support growth and power transmission connectivity in different Qualified Rural Opportunity Zones across the U.S.

The investment is a big bet by BlackRock on CIM’s Permanent Power Company, which also secured $600 million in 2026 to build Grape, a 200,000-acre solar power park in California’s San Joaquin Valley.