What Happened to KBS REITs? Seven Non-Traded REITs, What a $10 Share Paid Back, and the Two Still Open
Quick Answer
KBS, the Newport Beach, California sponsor, sold seven non-traded REITs to retail investors through brokers, raising about $6.3 billion in their offerings (our arithmetic). As of October 7, 2026, four have liquidated, two were handed to a spin-off manager, and one is still open with going-concern doubt. The liquidations paid, per original share: KBS REIT I $3.42 (2017-2018), KBS REIT II $2.83 (2020-2023) on top of $4.95 of special distributions paid earlier, KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT $8.47 (2017-2018) plus a $1.00 special, and KBS Growth & Income REIT $0.12 (July 2024) on a share sold at $10.39 (all sums our arithmetic, before regular distributions). KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT and REIT II moved to Pacific Oak Capital Advisors on November 1, 2019 and merged in October 2020 at 0.9643 shares; that REIT published no value for 2025 and stopped filing 10-Ks and 10-Qs in February 2026. KBS REIT III, the last one KBS still advises, is valued at $2.70 a share (December 18, 2025), pays nothing, and owes $918.9 million of principal in the second half of 2026; its advisory agreement was renewed on September 27, 2026.
Key Takeaways
- KBS ran its public REITs through KBS Capital Advisors. KBS Realty Advisors, the name most people search, is the affiliate that advises KBS's private programs and institutional clients and is the U.S. asset manager of Prime US REIT in Singapore, per KBS REIT III's 2025 10-K.
- Every KBS liquidation proxy printed an estimated range of cash per share. Two liquidations paid inside it (REIT I: $3.42 against $3.27-$3.68; Legacy: $8.47 against $8.27-$8.70). Two paid below it: REIT II $2.83 against $3.40-$3.83, and Growth & Income $0.12 against $0.43-$1.00 (our arithmetic).
- For $10,000 invested at the offering price, the cash back from special and liquidating distributions was about $3,674 at KBS REIT I, $7,784 at KBS REIT II, $9,475 at KBS Legacy and $116 at KBS Growth & Income, before ordinary distributions (our arithmetic).
- At Growth & Income the proxy disclosed that $5.9 million of deferred asset management fees would be repaid to the advisor 'prior to any distributions to stockholders', after the advisor waived $3.0 million.
- KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT paid a $3.61 special dividend in January 2018 that was $37.6 million in cash and $150.3 million in stock, and warned the tax on it could exceed the cash received. Its last estimated value was $5.72 (December 10, 2024).
- KBS REIT III raised $1.7 billion at $10.00 a share; its value has fallen from $12.02 (December 2018) to $2.70, redemptions ended in March 2024 and the conflicts committee postponed a liquidation vote on August 13, 2025.
CSV · 184 rows
KBS-sponsored non-traded REITs: offering prices, capital raised, estimated values, special and liquidating distributions, and current status
184 rows from the 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, liquidation proxies and tender-offer responses of KBS REIT I, II and III, KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT, KBS Growth & Income REIT, KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT (now Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT) and KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT II.
The roll call: seven KBS REITs and what a $10 share became
Search EDGAR for “KBS” and you get dozens of names, most of them property-level LLCs and financing vehicles. Seven filers sold shares to the public through brokers, filed 10-Ks and were advised by KBS Capital Advisors. This is what each one's own filings say happened to them.
| Vehicle (CIK) | Raised (per its filings) | Event | Date | What one original share received or is worth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KBS Real Estate Investment Trust, KBS REIT I (1330622) | 171,109,494 primary shares for $1.7 billion at $10.00; $233.7 million more through the DRP | Plan of liquidation approved; dissolved | Jan 27, 2017; Oct 10, 2017 | $3.42 in three liquidating distributions, 2017-2018 (our arithmetic) |
| KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II (1411059) | 182,681,633 primary shares for $1.8 billion; $298.2 million through the DRP | Plan of liquidation approved; dissolved | Mar 5, 2020; Apr 24, 2023 | $2.83 in six liquidating distributions, after $4.95 of special distributions in 2014 and 2019 (our arithmetic) |
| KBS Real Estate Investment Trust III (1482430) | 169,006,162 primary shares for $1.7 billion, launched at $10.00 | Still non-traded; redemptions ended Mar 15, 2024; going-concern doubt | Value set Dec 18, 2025 | $2.70 estimated value, no cash available |
| KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT (1469822) | 19,584,282 primary shares for $195.1 million at $10.00 | Plan of liquidation approved; dissolved | Dec 19, 2017; Apr 18, 2018 | $8.47 in three liquidating distributions, plus a $1.00 special in May 2017 (our arithmetic) |
| KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT (1452936), now Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT | 56,584,976 primary shares for $561.7 million at $10.00 | Advisor changed to Pacific Oak; absorbed SOR II; stopped filing 10-K and 10-Q | Nov 1, 2019; Oct 5, 2020; Feb 24, 2026 | Last estimated value $5.72 (Dec 10, 2024); none published for 2025 |
| KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT II (1580673) | $228.6 million IPO (Class A $10.00, Class T $9.59) plus $32.2 million private | Merged into Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT | Oct 5, 2020 | 0.9643 Pacific Oak shares, $5.52 at the December 2024 value and unpriced since (our arithmetic) |
| KBS Growth & Income REIT (1631256) | $94.0 million in all offerings; Class A at $8.90 private, $10.39 public | Plan of liquidation approved; dissolved | May 9, 2023; Jul 30, 2024 | $0.12 in one liquidating distribution, July 31, 2024 |
The seven raised about $6.3 billion in their primary offerings (our arithmetic; the Growth & Income figure includes its reinvestment plan). The distributions in the last column are only the special and liquidating ones; ordinary monthly or quarterly distributions paid over the years are not in it, and they differ by vehicle. KBS REIT I, for example, declared $0.350 a share for 2015 and $0.100 for 2016.
KBS Realty Advisors, KBS Capital Advisors and Pacific Oak: who is who
Most people who search the sponsor's name type “KBS Realty Advisors”. In the filings it is a different company from the one that ran the REITs. KBS REIT III's 2025 10-K describes KBS Realty Advisors LLC and its affiliates as “the advisors to the private KBS-sponsored programs and the investment advisors to KBS-advised investors,” and says it serves as the U.S. asset manager of Prime US REIT, a Singapore real estate investment trust (SGX ticker OXMU). The public REITs in the table above were advised by KBS Capital Advisors LLC, owned through KBS Holdings LLC; KBS REIT II's 2019 proxy states that “Charles J. Schreiber, Jr. indirectly controls KBS Holdings and KBS Capital Advisors.” The two companies share executives, which the filings list as a conflict of interest.
In 2019 the group split. On November 1, 2019 both Strategic Opportunity REITs signed new advisory agreements with Pacific Oak Capital Advisors, LLC, which their 8-Ks describe as part of a group “formed, owned and managed by Keith D. Hall,” the REITs' chief executive, and Peter McMillan III. Those two REITs have not been KBS vehicles since. KBS Capital Advisors kept REIT II, REIT III and Growth & Income; on September 27, 2026 KBS REIT III renewed its agreement with KBS Capital Advisors through September 27, 2027.
The proxy estimate versus the cash that arrived
KBS put its liquidation proposals to a vote with a printed estimate of the cash a holder would receive per share. That makes the KBS record unusually easy to check, because the actual distributions are in later 8-Ks.
| REIT | Proxy estimate per share | Actually paid in liquidation | Result (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| KBS REIT I (proxy Nov 10, 2016) | $3.27 to $3.68 | $1.00 + $2.40 + $0.02386814 = $3.42 | Inside the range |
| KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT (proxy Sep 22, 2017) | $8.27 to $8.70 | $4.05 + $4.16 + $0.26492767 = $8.47 | Inside the range |
| KBS REIT II (proxy Dec 9, 2019) | $3.40 to $3.83 | $0.75 + $0.25 + $0.40 + $0.50 + $0.20 + $0.73433444 = $2.83 | $0.57 below the low end, 17% short |
| KBS Growth & Income REIT (proxy Feb 13, 2023) | $0.43 to $1.00 | $0.12048602 | 72% below the low end |
The two that hit their range finished selling in 2017 and 2018. The two that missed were office portfolios sold off between 2020 and 2024. At KBS REIT II the miss came from one building: its 2022 10-K says the estimated net proceeds from Union Bank Plaza in Los Angeles fell by about $82.6 million, and net assets in liquidation dropped by $72.1 million in 2022 alone. At Growth & Income it came from leverage: the Commonwealth Building in Portland defaulted on its loan in February 2023 with $47.4 million of debt outstanding and was sold at a foreclosure auction on July 18, 2023.
What $10,000 at the offering price came back as
The arithmetic below uses only distributions the filings label special or liquidating, and the offering price each REIT printed. It leaves out ordinary distributions and assumes the shares were held from the offering to the end.
| Vehicle | Shares bought with $10,000 | Special distributions | Liquidating distributions | Total cash back (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KBS REIT I at $10.00 | 1,000 | $250 (Dec 2015) | $3,423.87 | $3,673.87 |
| KBS REIT II at $10.00 | 1,000 | $4,950 (2014 and 2019) | $2,834.33 | $7,784.33 |
| KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT at $10.00 | 1,000 | $1,000 (May 2017) | $8,474.93 | $9,474.93 |
| KBS Growth & Income REIT, Class A at $10.39 | 962.46 | None | $115.96 | $115.96 |
| KBS REIT III at $10.00 | 1,000 | Not computed | None; no redemptions | $2,700 of estimated value, not cash |
| KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT II, Class A at $10.00 | 1,000 | Not computed | None | 964.3 Pacific Oak shares, $5,515.80 at the Dec 2024 value, none published since |
KBS REIT II looks better than KBS REIT I here only because it paid its biggest cheque early: the $4.50 special distribution of September 2014, from asset sales, is nearly half of the original $10.00. Its own value history shows the step down that day, from $10.29 (December 2013) to $6.05 (September 22, 2014).
KBS REIT I: a Gramercy loan that turned into 867 properties
KBS REIT I started selling shares at $10.00 on January 27, 2006 and closed its primary offering on May 30, 2008, the peak of the market. Its distinguishing event came in 2011: under a settlement signed on September 1, 2011, Gramercy transferred to it interests in 576 bank branch properties and 291 office buildings, operations centers and other properties in satisfaction of a mezzanine loan KBS REIT I had made, 867 properties in all (our arithmetic). The REIT spent the next five years selling those GKK properties. Its estimated value went from $7.17 (November 2009) and $7.32 (December 2010) to $5.16 (March 2012) and $3.65 (October 2016).
Stockholders, about 40,500 of them, approved the plan of liquidation on January 27, 2017. Outside bidders tried to buy shares cheaply in the meantime: Everest offered $2.56 a share in February 2017, and mini-tenders for up to 5,000,000 and 2,000,000 shares followed later that year; the board recommended rejecting them, and the liquidation paid $3.42. The last building, North Creek Parkway Center in Bothell, Washington, sold for $36.5 million on November 22, 2017, and from December 14, 2017 the advisor agreed to take no further fees. The company said every distribution it paid in 2017 would generally be characterized as a return of capital. The final $0.02386814 came on about December 20, 2018, after about $1.6 million was handed to an advisor-owned entity to settle remaining liabilities.
KBS REIT II: the $4.50 special, then a liquidation that came up short
KBS REIT II closed its primary offering on December 31, 2010. Its charter required a liquidation vote if it was not listed by March 2018; the conflicts committee postponed it twice, and the December 2019 proxy noted that “nearly all of our stockholders have held their stock for between nine and eleven years.” Stockholders approved the plan on March 5, 2020 with 116,125,964 votes for and 3,821,546 against.
The liquidation then ran three years, not the 24 months originally anticipated: $0.75 in March 2020, $0.25 in August 2020, $0.40 in December 2020, $0.50 in October 2021 and $0.20 in December 2021, then nothing until Union Bank Plaza sold on March 30, 2023. The board marked the shares down to $0.93 in August 2022 and $0.73 in April 2023, and the final distribution of $0.73433444 was paid on April 28, 2023. About 45,000 stockholders received it.
KBS REIT III: still open, valued at $2.70
KBS REIT III is the vehicle KBS still runs, and the one most holders searching “KBS REIT” own. It sold 169,006,162 primary shares for $1.7 billion, starting at $10.00 in 2010. Its estimated value peaked at $12.02 in December 2018 and was $2.70 on December 18, 2025, 77.5% lower (our arithmetic). Redemptions and the reinvestment plan were terminated on March 15, 2024, and no distribution has been declared since June 2023. Its June 30, 2026 10-Q schedules $918,934 thousand of its $1,246,434 thousand of notes for July-December 2026 and says management's plans “do not alleviate substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” The charter would have required a liquidation vote by September 30, 2020 absent a listing; on August 13, 2025 the conflicts committee again postponed it.
We cover the loan calendar, the mini-tender offers and the December 17, 2026 annual meeting in the KBS REIT III review; the meeting is also on our quorum calendar.
KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT: the one that nearly returned $10
The apartment REIT, sub-advised by a joint venture of KBS Capital Advisors and Legacy Partners Residential Realty, raised $195.1 million in its primary offerings at $10.00 a share and had 5,722 stockholders by March 2018. It sold Wesley Village and paid a $1.00 special in May 2017, then sold its four remaining communities for $217.5 million after a $1.4 million price cut during due diligence. Liquidating distributions of $4.05 (December 2017), $4.16 (April 2018) and $0.26492767 (December 2018) followed, inside the proxy range. A buyer in a January 2018 mini-tender wanted up to 375,000 shares; the board told holders to reject it.
KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT I and II: from KBS to Pacific Oak
The Strategic Opportunity REIT raised $561.7 million at $10.00 a share by November 14, 2012 and its estimated value reached $14.81 a share in December 2016, the highest of any KBS REIT in the filings we read. When it sold its Singapore portfolio, it declared a $3.61 special dividend on December 7, 2017 and paid it on January 17, 2018 as $37.6 million in cash and $150.3 million in stock, roughly 20% cash (our arithmetic). The 10-K warned that the dividend would generally be taxed as a capital gain and that “The tax due on such dividend may exceed the amount of cash, if any, distributed to stockholders” as part of it. By the end of 2024 the REIT had issued 36,398,447 shares in special dividends.
Strategic Opportunity REIT II, which began its public offering on August 12, 2014, raised $228.6 million in it and $32.2 million privately. After both moved to Pacific Oak Capital Advisors in November 2019, REIT II merged into REIT I on October 5, 2020: each share became 0.9643 shares, 28,973,906 in total. The ratio matches the two boards' December 2019 values, $10.25 for REIT II and $10.63 for REIT I (our arithmetic).
What has happened since is in our Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT review: redemptions suspended from July 30, 2024, a last estimated value of $5.72 on December 10, 2024, no value for 2025 with a warning that custodians may “ascribe little to no value (such as $0.01 per share)”, and, from February 24, 2026, no more 10-Ks or 10-Qs. Its Israeli Series B and D bondholders are due one payment of principal and interest on June 30, 2028.
KBS Growth & Income REIT: the late, small one
Growth & Income started in June 2015 with a private placement at $8.90 a Class A share, then sold publicly at $10.39 (Class A) and $10.00 (Class T). It raised only $94.0 million in total, bought four properties and a joint venture interest in a fifth, and, in the proxy's words, was “unable to acquire a diverse portfolio”. Its value went from $9.20 (December 2018) to $3.38 (December 2021) and $1.16 (December 2022); it declared $0.1715 a share of distributions in 2021 and none in 2022.
The liquidation proxy of February 2023 is the clearest statement in the KBS record of who is paid first. The advisor had deferred $8.9 million of asset management fees since October 2017, waived $3.0 million of it, and the proxy said “$5.9 million of fees will be repaid to the Advisor with the liquidation proceeds prior to any distributions to stockholders.” After the Portland foreclosure, the $17.0 million sale of the Institute Property in Chicago (November 2023) and the $17.6 million sale of The Offices at Greenhouse in Houston (July 2024), whose lender accepted a $14.3 million discounted payoff, stockholders received one distribution of $0.12048602 on July 31, 2024. There were 885 Class A and 68 Class T holders.
What a holder can do with this
- KBS REIT I, KBS REIT II, KBS Legacy or Growth & Income: the companies are dissolved and their shares cancelled; there is nothing left to claim from them. The liquidating distributions were reported on Form 1099 each year and generally treated as a return of capital up to your basis. If your total cash back was below what you paid, the shortfall is normally a capital loss in the year of the final distribution (2018, 2023 or 2024). If you are still carrying the position on a statement, ask the custodian to close it out.
- KBS REIT III: you can still vote. The December 17, 2026 meeting needs a quorum, and the liquidation question returns every year. Redemptions are closed, so the only exits are holding or selling to a mini-tender bidder.
- Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT (former SOR I and SOR II holders): there is no redemption program and no current value; the next facts will come from 8-Ks and the bond subsidiary's reports.
- Any KBS holder: losses on non-traded REIT shares sold through brokers are sometimes pursued in FINRA arbitration, which has eligibility time limits. Our tender offer tracker shows what outside bidders have offered for similar shares in 2026.
This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
FAQ
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An email when KBS REIT III and Pacific Oak files with the SEC
When KBS REIT III and Pacific Oak files: what changed, the one number that matters, and the accession number to check it yourself.
Sources, read on October 7, 2026: KBS Real Estate Investment Trust (CIK 1330622) Forms 10-K for 2007 (0001193125-08-071277) and 2016 (0001330622-17-000015), liquidation proxy of November 10, 2016 (0001193125-16-766015), Schedule 14D-9 of February 13, 2017 and 8-Ks of January 31, March 14, March 28, May 9, October 11, November 28 and December 15, 2017 and December 20, 2018 (0001193125-18-354714); KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II (CIK 1411059) liquidation proxy of December 9, 2019 (0001193125-19-309210), 10-Ks for 2019 and 2022 (0001411059-23-000032) and 8-Ks of March 6, 2020 and April 28, 2023 (0001411059-23-000043); KBS Real Estate Investment Trust III (CIK 1482430) 10-K for 2012, 10-K for 2025 (0001482430-26-000014), 10-Q for June 30, 2026 (0001482430-26-000026) and 8-K of October 1, 2026 (0001482430-26-000041); KBS Legacy Partners Apartment REIT (CIK 1469822) 10-Ks for 2012 and 2017, liquidation proxy of September 22, 2017 and 8-Ks of December 22, 2017 and April 27 and December 20, 2018; KBS Growth & Income REIT (CIK 1631256) 10-Ks for 2016, 2022 and 2023, liquidation proxy of February 13, 2023 (0001631256-23-000012) and 8-Ks of February 16, 2023 and July 24, 29 and 31, 2024 (0001193125-24-187471); KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT / Pacific Oak Strategic Opportunity REIT (CIK 1452936) 10-Ks for 2017, 2019 and 2024 and 8-Ks of November 1, 2019, December 16, 2025, March 2, 2026 and June 10, 2026; KBS Strategic Opportunity REIT II (CIK 1580673) 10-Ks for 2016 and 2019 and 8-Ks of November 1, 2019 and October 5, 2020 (0001580673-20-000035). Totals, per-$10,000 figures and percentages are our arithmetic and exclude ordinary distributions. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
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