Equity Residential, the country's largest publicly traded apartment owner, has bought property in the heart of the West Seattle Junction where a 196-unit complex was approved earlier this year, property records show.

Equity paid $11.4 million this week for the site, more than an acre on Southwest Alaska Street between California Avenue Southwest and 42nd Avenue Southwest. It's now occupied by two aging retail buildings.

The seller, a corporation whose principals are Bellevue developers Charles Conner and Jeffrey Gow, received city approval in August for a two-building apartment complex with ground-floor retail and underground parking.

An Equity spokesman was not available to discuss the company's plans.