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A chat with commercial real estate broker Phil Mahoney

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:52:42 +0000

When a megadeal lands in Silicon Valley, there’s a decent chance veteran Bay Area commercial real estate broker Phil Mahoney had a hand in making it happen.

Google’s 715,000-square-foot lease in Sunnyvale. The 600,000-square-foot campus for LinkedIn in Sunnyvale. A Sunnyvale lease for 600,000 square feet for a new campus to be occupied by Amazon unit Lab 126. The just-concluded 100,000-square-foot deal for Softbank affiliate Starburst in San Carlos. Mahoney, an executive vice president with the Santa Clara office of Cornish Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank, helped guide all of these to a successful conclusion.

Each year, Mahoney kicks off the Cornish Carey annual forecast for the commercial property sector in the South Bay. This newspaper recently spoke with him about his outlook for the Silicon Valley commercial property sector. Mahoney’s comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Q How do you see the Silicon Valley market in 2013?

A There is no way that 2013 will repeat what occurred in 2011 and 2012. Those were incredible years, and there was so much space leased that it was not sustainable. We never expected that this year would be like either of those years. The market is taking a bit of a breather in that tenants have absorbed millions of square feet. Much of that square footage that was leased the last year is now being retrofitted for occupancy.

Q How long might this breather

last?

A We see 2014 returning to a very strong leasing mode when companies have digested what they took in in 2011 and 2012. Late 2013 and into 2014 should be very good.

Q What is driving the leasing?

A This is all underpinned by a strong economy, a good tech economy. The economy is strong enough to withstand problems, whether they be things such as North Korea or budget sequestration.

Q Is it helpful that there is a breather?

A If you are a property owner with a big empty building, now is not a good time to take a breather. But it is healthy in that it gives transportation infrastructure time to catch up to all the leasing that has occurred. And if you get into an overheated situation, you can get an overbuilt market, which isn’t good.

Q San Francisco’s mayor has said his city is the innovation capital of the world, which suggests San Francisco overshadows Silicon Valley. Is that assessment on target, or off target?

A I’d say the reports of San Francisco becoming the new Silicon Valley are overdone. Quietly, some of the larger tech companies are starting to push back a little bit on the whole San Francisco scene. There is a little bit of a wait and see about how it all works out. Some of companies have deferred major expansions in San Francisco and are doing it in the Santa Clara Valley proper instead.

Q Is the current surge in tech leasing like the dot-com boom that became a bubble, or is this the real deal?

A There is no comparison. This time there are no Pets.com, no Webvan. There is very little fluff we can see. These are real companies with real revenues and real profits. They don’t just depend on eyeballs looking at their websites.

Q How strong is the current crop of tenants?

A Never in my 30 years have I seen this number of creditworthy tenants in the market. Amazon, Google, Apple, LinkedIn, Facebook, Microsoft, Juniper, these are strong multibillion-dollar companies with healthy balance sheets.

Q This tech boom looks to be here for a while?

A This definitely has legs. We are probably in the middle innings of a recovery in Silicon Valley.

Contact George Avalos at 408-373-3556 or 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos.

Phil Mahoney
Age: 53
Birthplace: Cambridge, Mass.
Company: Cornish Carey Newmark Knight Frank
Position: Executive vice president
Residence: Los Altos Hills

Five things about Phil Mahoney
He was a lifeguard on Cape Cod while in college.
He is a former college football player, a starting defensive end with Stanford University and a teammate of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.
He has lived in England, in a small town on the Thames River as part of a Stanford overseas program.
He once skied in Scotland.
When he began his current career, he had three jobs: commercial real estate broker, a mover for a moving company, and a bouncer at a Palo Alto night club

Article source: http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_23115274/chat-commercial-real-estate-broker-phil-mahoney

Bay Area construction stages big rebound

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:57:53 +0000

Click photo to enlarge

The Bay Area’s construction industry is enjoying its strongest job growth in years, a remarkable turnaround for a sector that was battered by the vicious meltdown of the housing market and the implosion of commercial real estate.

The construction sector added 13,800 jobs in the Bay Area during the 12 months that ended in March, its best performance in seven years.

“The Bay Area construction market is punching above its weight class now,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist with Bank of the West.

Over the most recent 12 months, the construction industry added jobs at nearly four times the pace of overall job growth in the Bay Area.

The construction sector expanded its job totals by 10.5 percent,

compared with a growth rate of 2.7 percent for total jobs in the Bay Area.

Much of this is tied to increased demand to buy homes, along with tech firms hungry for office space.

“Housing has really turned the corner,” said Jordan Levine, an economist and director of research at Beacon Economics. “We are seeing more homebuilders jump into the fray.”

The Bay Area in March had 144,800 construction jobs. That’s 26.4 percent fewer than March 2001, the year the construction sector had its highest levels of employment.

“The industry has changed and it will be a long time before it gets back to the heights it once had, if it ever does,” said Michael Bernick, a research fellow with the Milken Institute.

To be sure, high

tech remains the employment leader that hauls other industries forward, as shown by the gains produced by two sectors considered to be proxies for the high-tech sector.

Professional, scientific and technical services added 22,600 jobs during the 12 months that ended in March, a 6.2 percent increase. Information services and products gained 4,600 jobs, up 3.8 percent.

But the rebound in the building industry broadens the types of workers who benefit from the Bay Area’s strong economy.

“Construction is a very big part of blue-collar job and income growth,” said Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “It brings a whole different set of people into the economic recovery. It makes the rebound more than just high tech.”

Technology, though, appears to be playing the key role in the construction boom.

Numerous tech companies, including Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and LinkedIn, have been striking lease deals or buying property in a quest for offices to contain their fast-expanding operations.

In tandem with this tech growth, the South Bay is the strongest job market for construction.

Over the 12 months that ended in March, the building industry in Santa Clara and San Benito counties added 4,000 jobs, a 12.3 percent gain. Another tech-oriented region, the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin area, added 3,100 jobs for a 9.3 percent gain during the year.

Even the East Bay (Alameda and Contra Costa counties), which was especially hit hard by the housing recession, gained 4,800 jobs during the 12 months, for a 10.1 percent annualized gain.

“The trades like electrical, plumbing and framing

seem to be picking up the best,” said Daniel Stout, a San Jose resident whose expertise is in construction management, as well as carpentry and electrical trades.

The big problem amid the upswing: Wages remain soft.

Over the most recent 12 months available — ending in March 2012 — average pay for construction workers rose more slowly than the average pay for all workers in the Bay Area, according to an analysis by this newspaper of data compiled by the state’s Employment Development Department.

The average pay for all workers in the Bay Area is $65,878, the department figures show, while construction workers’ average pay was $61,211. For all workers in the Bay Area, pay rose 4.2 percent a year, while for construction workers, the increase was 0.3 percent over the 12 months that ended in March 2012.

Stout would often work for $25 to $50 an hour just a few years ago, before the recession. Now, general contractors want to pay around $15 to $25 an hour.

“Things are picking up, but it’s never going to be to the point where we were eight or 10 years ago,” said Bow Peterson, a San Jose resident and construction and project manager. “Back then, clients didn’t look at my prices. They just wanted to know when the job would get done.”

Still, the combination of the housing rebound and the surge in commercial real estate suggests the construction upswing has some staying power.

“The improvement in construction should have legs,” Levy said. “This has a way to go and it will broaden the economic recovery.”

Contact George Avalos at 408-373-3556 or 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos.

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_23081495/bay-area-construction-stages-big-rebound?source=rss

Navigating the Bay Area Real Estate Market

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:26:13 +0000

A real estate agent tours a home for sale during an open house in San Francisco. According to real esate agents, in the current market environment, not having inside knowledge will prevent people from getting the house they desire. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Century 21 Realty Alliance president and broker Orhan Tolu shares what he knows to help buyers and sellers navigate the Bay Area’s strong and growing real estate market. The company had the biggest market share growth last year—357 percent—in the entire state of California when Century 21 Realty Alliance made its move into San Francisco, completing 850 transactions in their first year, with roughly 11 agents.

The Commercial Window

“This is the year to buy,” says Tolu.

If you have the capital, commercial properties are what you want to invest in, especially in San Francisco, Tolu says. In the current economy, it costs twice as much if you want to build a new building than what you can buy one for, and commercial property values are still comparatively low compared to housing. You might be able to buy a building for $200 per square foot, but it would cost about $400 per square foot to build that building today—and land is getting increasingly scarce.

“);

“Commercial is always the last sector in the real estate market to fall, and is the last one to pick up,” says Tolu, who has 15 years of experience in selling commercial real estate. “So it always happens in that cycle.”

“Right now there’s still a lot of vacancy in office space, there’s a lot of vacancy in retail,” Tolu said. “Commercial went up, rent went up, and there is a shortage of listings in apartments, too. But it’s not as bad as houses.”

“On the office or retail sector, I think it’s going to take another two years for the market to fully heal and become as good as residential in the state,” Tolu said.

In the next four to five years, Silicon Valley’s expansion will continue, and the real estate market is just growing. Analysts say the market has still not returned to normal levels, making this a good time to jump on a property if one is looking to invest.

“Real estate is maybe going to appreciate 30 to 40 percent in the next two years,” Tolu said, compared to banks or investment in stocks. “So if you add the appreciation plus net income return, it’s going to be more than 20 percent increase in a five-year time period, so there’s nothing better than a commercial real estate investment in the world, nothing better.”

Compared to other real estate sectors, “maybe you pay a little bit too much compared to the other areas, your net cap is less, but your appreciation is always much, much higher,” Tolu said.

Overseas investors may not be familiar with the market or the nuances of the way sales are made in each city. With the purchases of commercial property, there’s a big difference from housing, Tolu says. With residential real estate, buyers can look in newspapers, magazines, or search online, but commercial listings are less frequent.

Tolu says that in Silicon Valley, there are about 15 realtors who specialize in commercial real estate, and 50 to 60 in the Bay Area. In most transactions, the realtors can just make a few calls among themselves and sell the property without listing it on the market. If you want to invest in commercial real estate, be sure to find a local professional commercial real estate agent, he suggests.

International Buyers

Foreign buyers will be at a disadvantage if they search overseas. It’s necessary to be in the United States in order to even start the search, go to showings, and buy a house with the limited time buyers have to bid on properties. For international buyers, working with a company that has a large global network can greatly help facilitate the process and improve your chances of getting that house.

Just recently, Tolu said, a Century 21 real estate broker from London gave him a call—two people from London wanted to purchase a property in San Jose.

“She already did the search for me, she already did everything for me,” Tolu said. “All I have to do is send one agent to go show [the property], to take care of them.”

Many buyers in the Bay Area may be looking for something that requires specialized knowledge—condominiums, for example, are different from houses, and it’s best to choose an agent with that specialization. Properties are often sold within a week of listing, and some buyers get hasty after not being able to get a property after a certain amount of time, leading to bad decisions.

Use a Better Network

It’s crucial to have the most updated information while doing your search—lest you start to prepare to bid for a property that’s already sold. There are many popular online listing sites, like Trulia, but how up to date are they?

Listing information is released within 24 hours on Century 21’s website, Tolu says, but many other real estate sites take their listings from Century 21’s listing generator, and often aren’t updated until 72 hours after it’s available. There are even houses that are sold the next day, which the agents would know, but websites might not show.

Experience Is Key

In the current market environment, not having inside knowledge will prevent you from getting that house. Many buyers lose three or four properties before they start looking for help.

“[There’s] a huge shortage of listings. I’ve never seen a shortage like this in the last 50 years,” Tolu said. “And if you look at the data, the listing comes in today, and tomorrow it’s gone already.”

Sellers barely need to advertise, Tolu says. “You just put it in the Internet and somebody will buy it with a high price anyway. Why spend money for advertisement?”

A good broker will know the ins and outs of the neighborhoods you’re interested in, and be able to help you navigate the market, where prices are rising daily. “Rely on your broker, because your broker and your agent have much more updated information than the Internet.”

Pricing isn’t a sure thing in this market, and buyers who caution to bid 10 percent above asking price might end up with a house only months later, when asking prices too have gone up 20 percent, according to Tolu.

“If a house comes along and you don’t get the right advice, you’re going to lose that house anyway,” Tolu said. “Each time you lose, the price is going to keep going up and up. Rather than waiting six months and having the price go up, work with an experienced agent and you’ll buy it at your first look.”

Expand Your Options

Most buyers make the mistake of starting with an area they like and then look at what houses are there, Tolu said. It’s a common mistake.

If you only consider buying a house in a particular neighborhood or city, your choices are very limited, and if there are no listings, you’re stuck. Broaden your search to nearby areas, Tolu suggests, and look at their school districts as well. Then work with an experienced agent and bid right the first time.

School Districts

If you delay or don’t get the right information and haven’t gotten the house in the school district you want come September, it might affect your children’s education.

“If you do it at the right time, then your kids will go to the better schools—good schools,” Tolu said. “Otherwise in September when the schools open, if you still don’t have a property, you don’t have a good location or a good school for your kids.”

If you buy a house in a better school district, you won’t have to spend money on private schools, which can be at least $20,000 to $30,000, and very time-consuming to drive to and from, Tolu said.

Additional reporting by David Zhang

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Article source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/business/navigating-the-bay-area-real-estate-market-370116.html

Silicon Valley: Commercial real estate mega-deal by Canadian and American …

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:45:48 +0000

SAN JOSE — In an $800 million deal, a group of American and Canadian investors have bought 73 Silicon Valley office and research buildings, which they plan to extensively renovate.

Together, the buildings represent space equal to six regional shopping malls. The buyers are Canada-based Ivanhoe Cambridge, San Francisco-based real estate company DivcoWest and Texas-based realty investment firm TPG Real Estate.

The three companies bought the 73 buildings at the end of 2012 from Mission West Properties, a firm headed by veteran developer Carl Berg.

DivcoWest, TPG, Ivanhoe and Berg wouldn’t discuss the specifics of the deal Wednesday and didn’t provide the locations of the buildings. However, people with direct knowledge of the deal say the buildings are in prime locations in North San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara and Fremont. Some buildings are in South San Jose.

TPG and DivcoWest, in addition to paying $400 million in cash for the buildings, assumed $400 million in debt, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.

“This investment enables us to acquire a critical mass of assets in a rental market that is seeing one of the best growth rates in the United States,” Bill Tresham, president of global investments with Ivanhoe Cambridge, said in a prepared release.

Leasing activity has been brisk the past two years in Silicon Valley, with the charge led by major expansions of Cupertino-based

Article source: http://www.insidebayarea.com/real-estate/ci_22831654/canadian-and-american-realty-investors-pay-more-than

Mercury News interview: Transwestern managing director Edward Del Beccaro

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 03:42:29 +0000

Click photo to enlarge

Commercial real estate goes hand in hand with the local economy. If more jobs are being created, companies need more office space. If job shrink, then office vacancies increase.

Edward Del Beccaro, managing director of the East Bay office of commercial real estate firm Transwestern, has 34 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Before joining Transwestern, he headed up the local offices of commercial realty brokerages Colliers International and Grubb Ellis.

He recently was interviewed about the commercial real estate market and the regional economy. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is your assessment of the Bay Area economy?

A: The Bay Area is one of the healthiest metro areas for job creation in the entire United States. It is because of the intellectual capital in the South Bay and San Francisco, and the manufacturing and transportation capabilities in the East Bay. That’s been the division of labor here for a long time.

Q: What about the East Bay? How do you see that economy?

A: The East Bay is characterized by anemic growth, but growth nonetheless. The Port of Oakland and the refineries will help the East Bay economy grow, even if it is very slow growth. The East Bay will have anemic growth, but most of the country is going to be jealous of that growth.

Q: The South Bay has enjoyed strong leasing activity from Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), and other major tech companies. Do you think that office leasing boom is going to continue?

A: I think it will hold steady despite all the bad crosswinds.

Q: What are some of those crosswinds?

A: My daughter is deployed on a Navy ship in the Persian Gulf right now. If there is an Iranian or Middle East oil event, that will be an issue. That will flatten growth.

Q: What about the East Bay commercial real estate market? What is happening there?

A: Our current trend of slow growth and slow leasing continues. Look at the job creation vehicles and the absorption. They are more dynamic in the South Bay than the East Bay.

Q What trends do you see for the retail market in the East Bay?

A In eastern Contra Costa County, there are rising vacancies for big-box retail. Developers overproduced retail in East County. It’s because of the foreclosures that there was less demand for retail than anticipated.

Q: What about the new Paragon Outlets in Livermore? Why are those doing so well?

A: That part of the East Bay was underserved. You have the BART station in the area and connections to the Central Valley, and the Paragon outlets are near two major freeways, 580 and 680, that intersect in the area. And they are building new houses in Livermore and Dublin. Forget about the foreclosures, the prices are high enough that they are building. The Tri-Valley is strong because that is a commuting suburb to Silicon Valley.

Q: How is retail doing in the South Bay?

A: South Bay retail is strong. Retail reflects the dynamics of strong engines for growth. Cars, merchandise, restaurants are all doing well. Same thing in San Francisco. Same thing in Walnut Creek and Emeryville and the Tri-Valley. Those are all good retail markets.

Q: What is your assessment of the downtown Oakland office and retail markets?

A: Oakland is a tale of several cities. Uptown is healthy and getting healthier. Jack London Square is getting better. Broadway addresses tend to be tougher for getting tenants in there. You never know when you’re going to be shut down because of an Occupy protest march.

Q: Overall, will Oakland see improvement?

A: Oakland, because of its central location and transportation access, has a lot of potential.

Q: Long term, do you see that Silicon Valley is going to continue on its growth pace for the commercial property market?

A: Bottom line is that Silicon Valley continues its present leasing and absorption activity and levels. And that will benefit the entire Bay Area.

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos.

Edward Del Beccaro

Age: 58
Birthplace: Covington, Ky.
Company: Transwestern
Position: Managing director
Residence: Danville

Five Things about Edward Del Beccaro

As past president of the Walnut Creek Library Foundation, he has raised several million dollars to build a new library.
He has a personal library in Danville with 4,000 books.
He is a volunteer for arts organizations.
His daughter is a petty officer in the U.S. Navy and that has caused him to be more involved in veterans organizations.
He is an “amateur urbanologist.” He loves to know how cities are born, how they evolve and how they decay.

Article source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_22044873/chat-transwesterns-edward-del-beccaro

Mercury News interview: Transwestern managing director Edward Del Beccaro

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 21:32:23 +0000

Click photo to enlarge

Commercial real estate goes hand in hand with the local economy. If more jobs are being created, companies need more office space. If job shrink, then office vacancies increase.

He recently was interviewed about the commercial real estate market and the regional economy. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is your assessment of the Bay Area economy?

Q: What about the East Bay? How do you see that economy?

Q: The South Bay has enjoyed strong leasing activity from Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), and other major tech companies. Do you think that office leasing boom is going to continue?

A: I think it will hold steady despite all the bad crosswinds.

Q: What are some of those crosswinds?

A: My daughter is deployed on a Navy ship in the Persian Gulf right now. If there is an Iranian or Middle East oil event, that will be an issue. That will flatten growth.

Q: What about the East Bay commercial real estate market? What is happening there?

A: Our current trend of slow growth and slow leasing continues. Look at the job creation vehicles and the absorption. They are more dynamic in the South Bay than the East Bay.

Q What trends do you see for the retail market in the East Bay?

Q: What about the new Paragon Outlets in Livermore? Why are those doing so well?

Q: How is retail doing in the South Bay?

Q: What is your assessment of the downtown Oakland office and retail markets?

Q: Overall, will Oakland see improvement?

A: Oakland, because of its central location and transportation access, has a lot of potential.

Q: Long term, do you see that Silicon Valley is going to continue on its growth pace for the commercial property market?

A: Bottom line is that Silicon Valley continues its present leasing and absorption activity and levels. And that will benefit the entire Bay Area.

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at Twitter.com/george_avalos.

Edward Del Beccaro

Age: 58
Birthplace: Covington, Ky.
Company: Transwestern
Position: Managing director
Residence: Danville

Five Things about Edward Del Beccaro

Article source: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22044873/chat-transwesterns-edward-del-beccaro

Researcher to Woodland Chamber: Expect slow but steady economic growth

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 04:27:21 +0000

Local business leaders got an earful this week on the state of the economy in our region, and what can be done to fix it.

The prognosis: Expect a disappointingly slow, but steady, recovery, led by the San Francisco Bay Area’s high-tech sector.

That was the conclusion offered by Garrick Brown, an economic researcher at Cassidy Turley who spoke before the Woodland Chamber of Commerce during the group’s monthly luncheon on Thursday.

Brown, who specializes in commercial real estate, told the crowd, “If you track commercial real estate, you know exactly what’s going on where.”

What’s going on is a “retread” of last summer, he said, characterized by an apparent paralysis and “freeze on the economy.”

Brown, speaking before about three dozen people at the Yolo Fliers Club, went on to describe the factors involved, and pointed to some hopeful signs along the way.

The main causes for the current economic slowdown, Brown said, are energy costs, this summer’s heat wave, problems with the European economy and the slow growth of “emerging economies.”

As for energy, “Gas seems to like being $4 (a gallon). It just does,” Brown said.

He went on to speak about how the heatwave and drought in the Midwest has led to price increases in commodities.

That in turn affects prices in stores and restaurants, hurting both retailers and consumers.

The other factors are global in scope, affecting exporters, travelers and “banks and their willingness to lend,”

he said.

U.S. debt also remains an issue, he noted, as does political uncertainty and dysfunction.

As a result of all these problems, Brown said, the current fiscal quarter was the worst since the recovery began.

Positive signs

“We’re at bottom, we’re not getting any worse. But are we really getting better?” Brown asked.

His answer was mixed.

On the one hand, Brown believes “pent-up demand” will lead to new real estate growth, especially in single-family homes and rentals. He noted that in San Francisco these days, a tiny 600-square-foot apartment can go for $2,600 a month — a number that drew shocked gasps from attendees.

Also, Brown said, 3.1 million jobs have been created since January 2011 — including 21,800 locally — with almost every sector growing.

On the other hand, the only sector not growing is government jobs, which Brown said is in “full-brown retraction mode.”

And that happens to be the biggest sector in Sacramento, with 27 percent of the workforce in the public sector. As a result, the region is lagging behind others across the nation.

“We are recovering, but it’s turtle’s pace,” Brown said.

Going forward

Brown said he isn’t worried about the most dire economic forecasts, thanks to government stimulus and the Fed keeping interest rates low.

“The market has generally responded very well to that,” he said.

Instead, he said, “We’re essentially looking at more of the same” — steady, but very slow, economic growth.

He encouraged business leaders to diversify the local economy as much as possible, and noted that the Bay Area’s sustained growth — San Jose and San Francisco are currently the top two local economies in the country — could work to our advantage.

One reason why is that as real estate prices continue to rise there, people move out to Sacramento and Yolo counties for more affordable living.

“We have become the escape valve for the Bay Area,” Brown said.

That’s especially relevant given the youth of the high-tech workforce, with most of the engineers at Google, Apple and Facebook in their 20s and 30s. As they grow older, he predicted, many will get married, have kids and move to the suburbs.

“There’s going to be a point where they want good schools, safe streets and square footage,” Brown said.

And that’s where Woodland can take advantage — so long as the city is able to provide attractive places for Bay Area emigres to settle down.

Follow Don Frances at twitter.com/donjfran

Article source: http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_21502445/researcher-woodland-chamber-expect-slow-but-steady-economic

Richland Cos. Acquires 104000-SF Bay Plaza Office Complex – Daily News Article

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:51:47 +0000

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Richland Cos. now owns the
104,000-SF Bay Plaza Office
Complex.

WEBSTER, TX-The Richland Cos. acquired the 104,091-square-foot Bay Plaza Office Complex from its long-time owner, Capital Commercial Investments Inc. of Austin. The Houston-based buyer added the class B office building to its portfolio through a direct commercial real estate transaction with the seller.

The Harris Central Appraisal District, which appraises the asset at 711 W. Bay Area Blvd. for approximately $5.58 million, notes that Capital Commercial Investments’ entity CCI-711 Bay Area Ltd. acquired the office building in April 1998. The office building was developed in the early 1980s and renovated in 2009 following damage sustained by Hurricane Ike. Richland Cos.’ President and CEO Edna Meyer-Nelson would not disclose the price paid for the asset, though did say it was acquired at a significant discount to replacement costs. Derek R. Stokes with San Antonio-based Trinity Real Estate Finance Inc. secured funding for the CRE transaction from American Family Insurance of Madison, WI.

Meyer-Nelson explains there were many benefits with this office building, not the least of which is that it’s located in a fast-growing area of Houston. “NASA is booming, and a lot of developers are building down there,” she says. “The ship channel is also growing by leaps and bounds.”

Adding to the building’s appeal is that it’s a high-rise office asset in a supply constrained submarket. “It’s tough to build right there,” Meyer-Nelson explains. “The land along the Gulf Freeway (Interstate 45) and close by is on 100-year leases.”

Bay Plaza Office Complex is 94% occupied, with tenants including BP, San Jacinto College, Blue Moon Detective Agency, Hometrust Mortgage, Broadpoint, Texan Bank, Evergreen Tank Soultion, MeCor and Select Medical. Meyer-Nelson says roll will be small this year and next year, but in about two years, approximately 30% of the building is anticipated to roll. “Our strategy is to maintain the building, take good care of it, get it leased up, then handle that 30% to 35% roll we’re anticipating in 2.5 years,” she tells GlobeSt.com. “Then we’ll sell it, leaving some meat on the bone for someone else.”

With the market improving, Richland Cos. is becoming more active. The company sold three assets this year, acquired another property through a joint venture and is looking for more. “One of the markets I’m in right now, that hopefully will have earnest money and a contract in the next two to three weeks is Dallas,” Meyer-Nelson says. Another asset in Richland Cos.’ sight is an industrial park in Oklahoma City.

“We anticipate having four more transactions this year,” Meyer-Nelson says. “If we can sell one or two more assets and buy another three or so, that’ll be a good year for us.”

Categories:

Southwest,
Office,
Acquisitions/Dispositions,
Leasing,
Online Exclusive,
Austin,
Dallas/Fort Worth,
Oklahoma City,
Houston

Amy Wolff Sorter brings close to 30 years of reporting and editorial experience to her role as southwest editor for GlobeSt.com; with more than 10 of those years spent reporting on business and real estate trends. In addition to her duties with ALM, Amy is a copyeditor and writer with Texas Jewish Post.
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Article source: http://www.globest.com/news/12_406/houston/acquisitions_dispositions/Richland-Cos-Acquires-104000-SF-Bay-Plaza-Office-Complex-323886.html

Kidder Mathews Adds 7 Brokers to its Bay Area Offices – Virtual

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:02:35 +0000

Kidder Mathews continues to grow its Bay Area commercial real estate group, and recently added 5 brokers to its downtown San Jose office, and 1 each to its San Francisco and Redwood Shores offices, bringing the firm’s Bay Area roster to 73 agents.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) May 30, 2012

“The agents we’ve hired bring a varied mix of specialties to enrich and expand our service lines in each of our offices,” said Reed Payne, Executive Vice President of Brokerage Services for Kidder Mathews.

Joining Kidder Mathews San Jose office are veteran brokers Joe Scuncio, an office/RD specialist, Nigel Keep, investment properties, Kristopher Blais, a retail specialist, along with James Viso and Shaun Enferadi, both industrial brokers. Mike McCormac, an office specialist, joins the firm’s San Francisco office and has been named Vice President, and Bill Kurfess, an office/RD specialist joins the firm’s Redwood Shores office and has been named Senior Vice President. “We are thrilled to have this caliber of brokers join our group,” says Payne.

Kidder Mathews is one of the fastest growing commercial real estate firms on the West Coast with over 400 real estate professionals and staff in 9 offices in California, Washington, and Oregon. We offer a complete range of brokerage, appraisal, property management, and consulting services for all property types. For more information go to http://www.kiddermathews.com.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebkidder-mathews/adds-bay-area-brokers/prweb9554108.htm

Article source: http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/05/30/kidder-mathews-adds-7-brokers-its-bay-area-offices

Kidder Mathews Gains 7 G&E Brokers

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 23:47:42 +0000

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Bill Kurfess, an office/RD specialist,
is the firm?s SVP in the Redwood
Shores office.

SAN JOSE, CA-Kidder Mathews continues to grow its Bay Area commercial real estate group, adding five brokers to its downtown office and one each to its San Francisco and Redwood Shores offices. The new hires bring the firm’s roster in this region to 73 agents, with all seven brokers hailing from Grubb Ellis.

The local office welcomes veteran brokers Joe Scuncio, an office/RD specialist; Nigel Keep, investment properties; Kristopher Blais, a retail specialist; and James Viso and Shaun Enferadi, both industrial brokers. Mike McCormac, an office specialist, joins the firm’s San Francisco office as VP, and Bill Kurfess, an office/RD specialist, joins the firm’s Redwood Shores office as SVP.

“The agents we’ve hired bring a varied mix of specialties to enrich and expand our service lines in each of our offices,” said Reed Payne, EVP of brokerage services for Kidder Mathews, in a prepared statement. “We are thrilled to have this caliber of brokers join our group.”

Payne tells GlobeSt.com that, while more new hires aren’t imminent, he is always seeking new agents to join the firm. In Northern California, the company is looking to grow its property-management and appraisal divisions, having in the last 60 days hired Nanci Vega as senior property manager, and Brad Paul as head of appraisal.

“The overall vision for the company is to be recognized as the premier provider of commercial real estate services in the Western U.S.,” Payne continues. “With that as the vision, the goal is to have the highest-quality agents we can get, and these hires definitely fit that goal. We’ve hired people in almost every specialty we deal with, and they are all very capable, very strong agents.”

As GlobeSt.com recently reported, earlier this month Kidder Mathews broke ground on Motion Water Sports’ 135,000-square-foot Pacific Northwest corporate headquarters in Snoqualmie, WA. Also, in April, Kidder Mathews and Binswanger were retained by Kimberly-Clark Corp. to sell its exceptionally rare waterfront industrial property in Seattle. Located on the central waterfront at 2600 Federal Ave., the property boasts more than 2,500 linear feet of deep-water industrial shoreline area and a total land area in excess of 66 acres. It is immediately adjacent to Naval Station Everett, home of the USS Nimitz carrier battle group, and the Port of Everett main terminal.

Categories:

West,
Industrial,
Office,
Retail,
Executive Moves,
San Jose

Carrie Rossenfeld Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the West Coast region of GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City for 11 years before moving to Southern California in 1997 to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics ranging from intellectual-property licensing and giftware to commercial real estate. She recently edited a book about profiting from distressed real estate in a down market and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.

Article source: http://www.globest.com/news/12_363/sanjose/office/-322045.html