Renée Frojo
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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While I’d rather not put a negative spin on San Francisco’s gangbusters economy, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it’s putting pressure on nonprofits to either pay up, get creative or get out.

As I wrote in this week’s paper, rising rents are pushing nonprofits out of the city and into the East Bay in search of affordable space. But what about local nonprofits that need a San Francisco address? How are they facing skyrocketing rents and landlords that refuse to renew their lease in hopes of attracting higher-paying tenants?

Well, “it’s really nuanced,” said Leiasa Beckham, a real estate consultant with the Northern California Community Loan Fund, in trying to explain the kinds of solutions that nonprofits in the city are coming up with to find more stable, affordable rent.

According to Beckham, some nonprofits with enough funds are looking into buying their own space. But because these projects are currently undergoing complex lease negotiations, she wouldn’t specify who is doing what.

Other scrappy nonprofits, she said, are looking for shared space concepts, co-locating to buildings with reasonable rents or renting spaces from other nonprofits in shared-space buildings — a model that has been used by nonprofits for some time.

But as rents continue to rise and real estate throughout the city — including the historically affordable areas of town — becomes increasingly desirable, even shared office spaces have become harder to find and develop.

“The real estate market is really prohibitive to centers expanding or replicating here,” Katie Edwards of Tide’s Nonprofit Centers Network, a peer learning community for nonprofits that share space, told me.

Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/02/san-franciscos-prosperity-puts-a.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