New rental housing in southwest Bakersfield is stretching the city’s definition of deluxe living with indoor pickleball and apartments priced as high as $2,695 per month.
Ranch West, a development with 220 units, recently opened near Panama Lane and South Allen Road. It offers amenities including basketball courts, fire pits and a resort-style pool and spa with covered cabanas.
Local developer Chris Hayden’s combination of duplexes and six-plexes is the city’s latest project to test the market for upscale rentals. It competes with other high-end projects built in recent years in the city’s southwest and downtown.
Bakersfield’s continuing population growth and relatively low vacancy rates have made it an attractive place to build new housing — not only rentals but also single-family homes. Ranch West is a notable example of the former, partly because of what comes with prices that may seem high for longtime residents.
The least expensive apartment on the development’s website, Ranchwest.com, is a one-bedroom, one-bath unit measuring 603 square feet and costing $1,995 per month. The priciest is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment covering 1,260 square feet for $2,695 per month.
Both units exceed the price range listed for the area in ASU Commercial’s second-quarter market update, by at least $200 per month. Only downtown Bakersfield offers more expensive apartments, with lofts and studios that cost up to $2,375 per month, according to the ASU Commercial report.
ASU Commercial multi-family specialist Marc Thurston was impressed.
“This is a well-planned out community that will be a nice enhancement to Bakersfield as the city expands further into the far (southwest),” Thurston said by email. “The indoor pickleball courts, EV (electric vehicle) charging stations and attached garages will be very popular tenant amenities.”
But there’s more: Ranch West also boasts outdoor kitchens, barbecues, attached garages and a soccer field. It has a business center, a 24-hour fitness center and a clubhouse featuring a coffee bar.
Its apartment interiors are high-end as well, with quartz countertops, white cabinetry, kitchen islands, private yards or balconies and central air and heating. The development’s website says the units also offer black custom finishes, luxury vinyl plank flooring, full-size washer-dryers in each unit and ADT alarm systems with doorbell camera control.