Newcastle Partners expects to sign more leases soon in Centre Pointe, a 197,000-square-foot office complex in Walnut Creek that the firm recently bought. 

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Newcastle Partners is betting that the Shadelands Business Park, a long struggling office submarket in Walnut Creek, is poised to make a comeback.

The San Francisco-based investor and developer recently snapped up Centre Pointe, a six-building, 197,000-square-foot office complex at 165 – 215 Lennon Lane, from seller Sun Life Financial, which has partnered with Newcastle on other projects.

The price was estimated at close to $21 million or $105 to $110 per square foot, according to Cornish Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank.

Dennis Higgins, managing partner of Newcastle, said he expects Shadelands to see more leasing and activity from healthcare tenants and Safeway Inc.’s proposed, 25-acre retail and senior housing project (read more here).

“The basis for which we were able to purchase Center Pointe was very attractive,” Higgs said. “Historically, the Shadelands hasn’t been the most popular submarket, but we think that with an aggressive basis and all the changes in the neighborhood, it’s going to be an attractive area.”

Newcastle, founded in 1999 by Higgs, owns office and industrial properties throughout California and tends to go after value-add properties in the Bay Area.

Center Pointe was 85 percent leased at the time of the deal and Newcastle expects to sign on new tenants soon.

In the past year, the firm has picked up properties including the 80,000-square-foot 246 First St. in San Francisco with partner Stockbridge Capital Group, the 225,000-square foot Great America Place office complex in Santa Clara and a few small buildings in San Francisco’s Jackson Square area.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/07/newcastle-bets-on-shadelands-buys.html

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Nov 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Harvest Properties, a commercial real estate investment and development
firm based in Emeryville, today announced with Prudential Real Estate
Investors that it has signed global business communications giant Avaya
to a 275,155 square-foot lease agreement.

Avaya plans to relocate employees and operations now dispersed in
several facilities and offices to the Towers at Great America in Santa
Clara, which is owned by PREI(R) and managed by Harvest
Properties. Avaya currently sublets 200,000 square feet at the property.

By mid-2012, Avaya will occupy about 43 percent of the 645,651
square-foot office complex located at 4555, 4557 and 4655 Great America
Parkway. Avaya joins other substantial tech tenants to the Towers at
Great America, including Tellabs Operations and Citrix.

Avaya was represented in lease negotiations by Douglas Sugimoto of
Cornish Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank; PREI was represented by
Christian Marent and Bob Steinbock of CB Richard Ellis. Terms of the
deal were undisclosed.

The 10-year old office campus was acquired by PREI in 2001 from Nortel
Networks as a sale-lease back; following Nortel’s Chapter 11 filing,
PREI repositioned the single tenant campus to a multi-tenant office
park. In October 2009, Harvest Properties partnered with PREI to oversee
the repositioning, which included substantial lobby upgrades and common
area finishes, multiple exterior signage sites and tenant identity, and
shared amenities including an upscale cafe, an on-site management
office, state-of-the-art fitness facilities and conference centers, all
completed in 2010.

The Towers’ existing infrastructure, abundant parking, attractive
grounds and desirable location rounded out the package that attracted
Avaya to the office campus.

“Avaya recognized the value in the buildings’ modern facilities and
infrastructure, convenient location and on-site property management,”
said John Winther, founder and managing partner of Harvest Properties.
“The sheer size of the campus allows Avaya to consolidate and streamline
its operations by relocating employees and facilities to one centralized
campus,” said Winther.

“Avaya is a long-term tenant of The Towers at Great America, and it
speaks well of our business relationship that Avaya is leasing more
space,” said Kristin Paul, a director with PREI. “This sizable
transaction bodes well for the overall local market and the
repositioning of the asset provides an attractive and desirable location
for Avaya and other technology-related tenants,” added Paul.

About Avaya

Avaya is a global leader in next-generation business collaboration and
communications solutions. The company provides unified communications,
real-time video collaboration, contact center and data solutions, and
related services directly and through its channel partners to
organizations and companies of all sizes around the world. For more
information, please visit
www.avaya.com .

About Prudential Real Estate Investors

PREI is a leader in the global real estate investment management
business, offering a broad range of investment vehicles that invest in
private and public market opportunities in the United States, Europe,
the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Headquartered in
Parsippany, N.J., PREI has other offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New
York, San Francisco, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Munich, Paris,
Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Beijing,
Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo; as well as representatives in Milan and
Zurich. As of June 30, 2011, PREI managed approximately $48.1 billion in
gross real estate assets ($30.2 billion net) on behalf of more than 490
clients worldwide. For more information, visit
http://www.prei.com .

About Harvest Properties

Founded in 2002, Harvest Properties is a leading full service commercial
real estate investment firm specializing in acquiring, developing,
managing and financing commercial property, primarily through
joint-venture investments in northern California. Harvest Properties
strives to generate attractive returns for its financial partners and
provide creative real estate solutions and outstanding service.

Harvest Properties portfolio comprises approximately eight million
square feet of office, industrial, RD and retail properties in the San
Francisco Bay Area. For more information, please visit
www.harvestproperties.net .

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:

http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50086367lang=en

SOURCE: Harvest Properties

        for Harvest Properties
        Julie Wellik, 415-472-3878
        jwellik@pacbell.net
        or
        Harvest Properties
        Sarah Irving, 510-594-2050 ext. 113
        Partner

Copyright Business Wire 2011

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/harvest-properties-and-prudential-real-estate-investors-ink-275000-sf-lease-deal-with-avaya-2011-11-29