Sunbelt Rentals Buys Foreclosed Land in San Jose for $5M

Sunbelt Rentals has paid $5 million for land in East San Jose once slated to contain some of the 800 homes proposed by a local developer accused of real estate fraud.

The South Carolina-based tool rental company bought 2.4 acres between 2101 and 2149 Alum Rock Avenue, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The seller, presumably the lender of a $6.25 million unpaid mortgage tied to the property, was undisclosed. Other reports pegged the lender as Parkview Financial, based in Los Angeles.

It’s not clear what Sunbelt Rentals, a unit of Ashtead Group, an industrial equipment rental firm based in London, wants to do with the property, approved for 796 homes and 28,700 square feet of shops and restaurants, according to Loopnet. It has been assessed at nearly $7 million.

The foreclosed land at Alum Rock and Jose Figueres avenues was owned by an affiliate controlled by Sanjeev Acharya, which bought it in 2020 for $9 million.

That year, Acharya and his SiliconSage Builders were accused by the Securities & Exchange Commission of defrauding hundreds of investors out of $119 million.

The Sunnyvale-based company allegedly raised funds from 250 investors, many in the South Asian American community, by falsely claiming it was profitable and promising exorbitant returns.

In March last year, Acharya and his real estate firm reached a partial settlement with the SEC to allow creditors and investors to recoup some of their money. He and his company didn’t admit wrongdoing.

Last October, two residential buildings under construction by Sanjeev Acharya and his SiliconSage Builders in Fremont and San Jose were the subject of a court-ordered receivership to allow creditors and defrauded investors to recover losses.

— Dana Bartholomew