Jeff Bezos

J.K. Dineen
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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Amazon.com Inc. is pushing ahead with a San Francisco expansion that will grow its footprint in the city to nearly 150,000 square feet.

In August, the Seattle-based online retailer signed a 65,000-square-foot lease at 475 Sansome St. The deal surprised downtown real estate observers because Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) had previously leased 20,000 square feet in the Sansome St. building but had planned to sublease the space when it took 83,000 square feet at 188 Spear St. Instead, not only did Amazon decide to keep its space at 475 Sansome St., it tripled its commitment there.

Amazon has about 80 jobs open in San Francisco, more than half of which are for its Amazon Music division, according to the group’s website. The ads are looking for engineers and designers to “help us build the world’s best online music player.”

The deals come as Amazon, led by Jeff Bezos, is also making big moves in Silicon Valley. In 2012, the group agreed to a lease of close to 600,000 square feet at Jay Paul Co.’s Moffett Towers complex to house its Lab 126 subsidiary, previously located in Cupertino. The lab is where the Kindle and the Amazon smartphone are developed.

“Amazon is on a space tear in the Bay Area,” said Research Director Colin Yasukochi of CBRE. “If you add up what they did down in the valley and what they are doing here, they have added a lot of space in the Bay Area. Of course, if you compare it to what they are doing in Seattle, it’s a drop in the bucket.”

In downtown Seattle, Amazon is developing a 3.3-million-square-foot high-rise campus on three blocks; construction is underway on the first block.

The Sansome St. deal was the second large new lease in the month of August, slightly smaller than Cisco’s 67,000-square-foot lease at 500 Terry Francois.

J.K. Dineen covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/09/amazon-goes-on-bay-area-growth-spurt.html

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Article source: http://www.globest.com/news/12_499/sanfrancisco/office/21-Story-475-Sansome-St-Changes-Hands-327572.html

Harvest bought the notable office building with a joint venture partner from The Swig Co. LLC and Angelo, Gordon Co. for an undisclosed sum. Tony Crossley and Tim Maas with Colliers International were the listing team on the transaction. Harvest Properties will serve as the property management company, with the CAC Group’s Charlie Withers and Ken Churich representing Harvest as listing agents.

Designed in the late 19th century French Beaux Arts style by Benjamin Greer McDougall as one of two original headquarter buildings of the Standard Oil Company, 115 Sansome St. was completed in 1912.

The prominent corner building at Sansome and Bush Streets consists of 14 stories and a penthouse, lower level and mezzanine and features 128,838 rentable square feet located in the heart of San Francisco’s prominent North Financial District. The property benefits from excellent access to freeways and public transportation, including BART, MUNI, cable car, the light rail system and ferries, with a BART/MUNI station within one block of the building.

The building exterior and ornate jewel box lobby includes original period architectural character and vintage detailing, high ceilings, copper trimmed operable windows and abundant window-line with frontage on Sansome Street, Bush Street and Treasury Place. Additionally, 115 Sansome Street has received a consistently high Energy Star rating since 2008.

Harvest Properties’ plans for 115 Sansome Street include removing the buildings’ traditional tenant improvement finishes on a speculative basis and, working with local architect Hooks ASD and general contractor RN Field, developing creative space highlighting its historic features and building out non-traditional, “un-corporate” floor plans in an effort to attract tenants seeking the type of office space more typically found South of Market.

“With 115 Sansome Street, Harvest offers tenants seeking non-traditional floor plans an attractive alternative to Class A office or commodity space in a highly desirable location,” said John Winther, founder and managing partner of Harvest Properties. “The buildings’ 9,000 square-foot floor plates subdivide well for small- to mid-sized tenants – perhaps appealing to the start-up, high-tech or younger companies interested in an open workspace environment with a retro feel and a great address.”

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 consists of more than 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.

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

Article source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5241757/harvest-properties-completes-purchase-of-historic-sansome-street-office-building-spec-interior-renovation-is-planned