A Bay Area real estate agent who was arrested for allegedly assaulting a prostitute at a South San Francisco motel in 2012 has pleaded no contest to one count of false imprisonment, prosecutors said.

David Patrick O’Mara, 47, entered his plea in San Mateo County Superior Court on Monday in exchange for a maximum sentence of one year in county jail, Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.

According to prosecutors, O’Mara arranged for a 20-year-old prostitute to visit him at his San Francisco home through the escort website myRedBook.com on June 5, 2012.

O’Mara later claimed that during the encounter, the woman stole an iPad and $280 in cash, though she consistently denied the theft and O’Mara never filed a report, Guidotti said.

The following night, prosecutors said, O’Mara allegedly disguised himself and arranged to meet the same woman at a Travelodge in South San Francisco.

The victim let O’Mara into her motel room, where he allegedly assaulted her, punched her multiple times and bound her legs, feet and mouth with black duct tape, prosecutors said.

South San Francisco police went to the hotel after receiving reports of a woman screaming and entered the room to find the victim bound on the floor.

O’Mara was arrested at the scene, and prosecutors later charged him with several felonies, including false imprisonment, assault and battery.

The victim was treated at a hospital for moderate injuries.

O’Mara remains out of custody on $150,000 bail and is due back in court to set sentencing proceedings on July 12.

Chris Cooney, Bay City News

Article source: http://sfappeal.com/2013/06/sf-realtor-accused-of-assaulting-prostitute-pleads-no-contest-to-false-imprisonment-charge/

The group plans to open a biotech incubator twice the size in South San Francisco, near Genentech’s campus, by the middle of 2013. They’re searching for a third Bay Area property to turn into a 200,000-square-foot space for clean-tech companies next year.

By the time they’re done, the combined incubators will hold space, for startups, greater than seven football fields, or enough to occupy about one-fifth of the Empire State Building. All these offices and labs are meant to house young companies eager to do business in China, and Chinese startups expanding to the U.S.

Hanhai zPark is scouting spaces in Boston and other cities, as well. “There’s a huge demand from cities all over the U.S. that they need investors from China to grow their industries and jobs,” says Victor Wang, president of Hanhai zPark.

The money flowing from China to buy U.S. properties and companies reached a record $6.5 billion last year, up 17 percent from a year earlier, according to Rhodium Group, a research and advisory firm.

Hanhai zPark isn’t the first China-focused incubator to open in Silicon Valley last year: InnoSpring, a Santa Clara space whose backers include Chinese real estate developers, opened a few months earlier.

Why park big new incubators in an area already packed with them? Existing ties between China and the Bay Area make Silicon Valley a natural home to ventures like Hanhai zPark. Many Chinese-born entrepreneurs go to Stanford or work at U.S. tech companies in the valley.

Stanford connection

Wang, himself a native of Harbin, in northern China, went to Stanford business school before starting his own health IT venture. About a year and a half ago, leaders from Hanhai, a privately held operator of five big business incubators in China, and zPark, a state-owned developer of the largest science and tech park in China, approached him about running a space for startups in the U.S. Xi Jinping, China’s incoming president, and Vice President Joe Biden touted the deal during meetings in Los Angeles and Washington last year.

The space available may be growing faster than demand. Hanhai zPark has about 40 tenants so far, but it has room for 100 or 200, depending on the space they need. About a quarter of the tenants are American companies, many founded by Chinese immigrants or Americans of Chinese heritage, Wang says. The rest are Chinese companies exploring the U.S. market.

On top of offering the usual incubator services, such as legal and accounting help, Hanhai zPark will invest directly in some of its tenant companies through a $5 million angel fund. It will also make introductions to people in business and government on the mainland. “We’ll connect (startups’) needs to the Chinese partners in different cities,” Wang says.

Seeking investors

Those connections, along with ample capital, are the main attraction for American companies considering seeking investors from China. “That differentiates them from other venture investors, particularly in sectors where there’s a high political risk, like digital services,” says Thilo Hanemann, research director at Rhodium Group, who tracks Chinese investment flows.

That can help startups crack a market where even multinationals such as Google have stumbled. Still, companies face risks doing business on the mainland, where the legal protections taken for granted in the U.S. and Europe don’t exist. In China, “there’s no rule of law that protects individuals and companies against the government,” Hanemann says.

Expect the pace of Chinese investment in the U.S. to accelerate. Hanemann notes that while the growth in cross-border investment gets a lot of attention, China is really playing catch up. “If you think about China as the world’s second-largest economy, the right question to ask is why have they not been more active?” he says.

Part of the reason is that the government has only recently made it easier for wealth to move beyond China’s borders. “There’s a lot of channels through which Chinese corporations and funds can shovel money into the U.S. now,” Hanemann says.

John Tozzi is a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter. E-mail: jtozzi@bloomberg.net

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/Chinese-incubators-growing-in-Bay-Area-4343918.php

David Becker, principal, Bay area office of BNBuilder.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

Email
 | Twitter
 | Google+

HQ: Redwood Shores

Company: BNBuilders, based in Seattle, opened a Bay Area office in 2003 focusing on bioscience and lab buildings. The local office employs about 150 people with $140 million in revenue in 2012 and an estimated $175 million for 2013. Recent projects include a 162,000-square-foot headquarters for Onyx Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco, the build-out of Twitter’s offices at 1355 Market in San Francisco and a lab building for Valero in Benicia. Its client roster features Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc., Shorenstein Properties, Kilroy Realty, Wareham Development and Hudson Pacific.

Background: Becker came to the Bay Area to …

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

To continue reading subscribe now

Already a subscriber? Sign in to link your subscription

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2013/01/11/david-becker-principal-of-bay-area.html

Acquisitions

During the third quarter of 2012, Terreno Realty Corporation acquired
six industrial properties consisting of nine buildings containing
approximately 577,000 square feet for an aggregate purchase price of
approximately $74.4 million as follows:

• Caribbean. Three multi-tenant industrial buildings in Sunnyvale,
  California located within Silicon Valley’s Moffett Park submarket and
  100% leased to two tenants. This property contains approximately
  172,000 square feet and was acquired for a purchase price of
  approximately $33.7 million.
• NW 78^th Avenue. One approximately 75,000 square foot
  industrial property in Doral, Florida adjacent to the west cargo area
  of Miami International Airport and the Palmetto Expressway. This
  property was acquired for a purchase price of approximately $4.2
  million and is vacant.
• Manhattan Beach. One multi-tenant industrial property in Redondo
  Beach, California located in the South Bay submarket and approximately
  one-half mile west of I-405 and four miles south of Los Angeles
  International Airport. This property contains approximately 103,000
  square feet, was acquired for a purchase price of approximately $14.2
  million and is 100% leased to one tenant.
• Carlton Court. One multi-tenant industrial property in South San
  Francisco, California located east of Highway 101 and less than two
  miles from San Francisco International Airport and 100% leased to two
  tenants. This property contains approximately 24,000 square feet and
  was acquired for a purchase price of approximately $3.6 million.
• Troy Hill. One multi-tenant industrial property in Elkridge, Maryland
  located in the Troy Hill Industrial Park, a Baltimore/Washington
  corridor park between Interstate 95 and US Route 1 and adjacent to
  Maryland Highway 100. This property is 90% leased to two tenants,
  contains approximately 66,000 square feet and was acquired for a
  purchase price of approximately $6.7 million including an assumed
  mortgage loan with a total principal amount of approximately $3.6
  million with a fixed annual interest rate of 5.9% that matures on
  August 1, 2014.
• NW 26^th Street. Two industrial buildings in Miami, Florida
  located approximately one mile from the west cargo area of Miami
  International Airport and 100% leased to one tenant. This property
  contains approximately 138,000 square feet and was acquired for a
  purchase price of approximately $12.1 million including an assumed
  mortgage loan with a total principal amount of approximately $6.2
  million with a fixed annual interest rate of 5.8% that matures on
  March 1, 2014.

Operations

As of September 30, 2012, Terreno Realty Corporation owned a total of 63
buildings aggregating approximately 4.8 million square feet, which were
approximately 92.6% leased to 97 tenants.

The leased percentage increased from 91.3% at June 30, 2012 and 74.0% at
September 30, 2011.

Capital Markets

During the second quarter of 2012, Terreno Realty Corporation issued
1,840,000 shares of 7.75% Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock at $25.00
per share, generating approximately $44.3 million in net proceeds.

Additional information is available on the company’s website at www.terreno.com.
Terreno Realty Corporation expects to file its quarterly report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2012 on or about November 7,
2012.

Terreno Realty Corporation is an acquirer, owner and operator of
industrial real estate in six major coastal U.S. markets: Los Angeles;
Northern New Jersey/New York City; San Francisco Bay Area; Seattle;
Miami; and Washington, D.C./Baltimore.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the federal securities laws. We caution investors that
forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs and on
assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management.
When used, the words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”,
“intend”, “may”, “might”, “plan”, “project”, “result”, “should”, “will”,
and similar expressions which do not relate solely to historical matters
are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements
are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions and are not
guarantees of future performance, which may be affected by known and
unknown risks, trends, uncertainties, and factors that are beyond our
control, including risks related to our ability to meet our estimated
forecasts related to stabilized cap rates and those risk factors
contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2011 and our other public filings. Should one or more of these risks
or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated,
estimated, or projected. We expressly disclaim any responsibility to
update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events, or otherwise.

Article source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/6080850/terreno-realty-corporation-announces-quarterly-investment-operating-and-capital-markets-activity

So. San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 10, 2012

The Bay Area’s Peninsula Heating by James Byrne, the most trusted HVAC systems and furnace repair company in the South San Francisco and Bay areas, is currently featuring free carbon monoxide inspections for homes.

“This winter season, the professionals at Peninsula Heating can help conduct a free carbon monoxide safety inspection of your heating units, furnaces, fireplaces and chimneys to find any potential risks,” Patricia Byrne of Peninsula Heating said.

In regards to heating systems, carbon monoxide leaks are the most common safety issue in homes. Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas produced by heating units, such as furnaces, water heaters and gas appliances. Due to its colorless, tasteless and odorless nature, it seeps into homes unnoticed until it is too late. Homeowners need to take steps to protect themselves and their families against carbon monoxide poisoning.

“It is important that homeowners have their heating units, especially those placed in poorly vented or enclosed areas, regularly inspected and maintained by trained professionals,” Byrne said.

Carbon monoxide is generated by malfunctioning furnaces, water heaters, central heating systems, room heaters, refrigerators, engine-powered equipment, gas and wood fireplaces, gas stoves, and oil furnaces. A single crack in any part of a heating unit can result in the leaking of this hazardous gas and its diffusion throughout the entire household.

Peninsula Heating by James Byrne suggests that in addition to regular checkups and maintenance, homeowners should prevent the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning by not using unvented, fuel-based appliances in the home, especially where people sleep.

For more information about any of Peninsula Heating by James Byrne’s services, call 650-763-1016 or view the heating contractors on the web at www.peninsulaheating1954.com. Peninsula Heating by James Byrne is located at 513 Linden Ave. in South San Francisco.

About Peninsula Heating by James Byrne

Peninsula Heating by James Byrne was founded in 1954 by Howard Byrne, and was cultivated for more than two generations afterward by James Byrne. The most dedicated heating contractors in the Bay Area, Peninsula Heating helps residential and commercial clients with the installation, maintenance, and repair of name brand furnaces, air-conditioning units, whole-house fans, sauna systems, boilers, and standard and on-demand water heaters. Peninsula Heating also provides HVAC ductwork and vent design, and inspection certifications for real estate escrow closings. Emergency services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebHVAC-systems/bay-area/prweb9185425.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/10/prweb9185425.DTL

South San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) October 21, 2011

Peninsula Heating By James Byrne is a ventilation, air conditioning and heating contractor in South San Francisco and the Bay Area. They encourage customers to have their heating systems checked in preparation for winter.

Simple measures such as checking caulk and glazing putty around windows, weather stripping doors as needed, checking flashing seals around vent stacks and shingles on the roof would ensure proper HVAC performance and lower electric bills. They also suggest the use of Energy Star rated products which are both energy efficient and environment friendly.

Peninsula Heating By James Byrne offers to help customers inspect their heating systems and prepare them for winter. Bay Area customers could schedule an annual tune-up to maximize HVAC systems efficiency and performance. For those needing a new heating system, Peninsula Heating By James Byrne is also offering a deal on new furnace installations for $1,300 as part of their winter specials.

“We believe in accommodating our clients’ busy schedules, so call us for a day, evening or weekend appointment. Let Peninsula Heating By James Byrne provide you with an energy efficient assessment of your home or business,” says Patricia Byrne of Peninsula Heating By James Byrne.

For more information on Peninsula Heating By James Byrne or to inquire about their latest coupons and specials, call (650) 763-1016 or visit them online at www.peninsulaheating1954.com. Peninsula Heating SSF is located at 513 Linden Avenue South San Francisco, CA 94080.

About Peninsula Heating By James Byrne

Howard Byrne founded Peninsula Heating and Cooling in 1954 and today they serve South San Francisco and the Bay Area under the name of Peninsula Heating By James Byrne. They offer installation, maintenance and repair of name brand furnaces, air conditioning units, whole house fans, sauna systems, boilers, standard and on-demand water heaters. In addition to providing HVAC ductwork and vent design, they also provide inspection certifications for real estate escrow closings. The specialized South San Francisco heating contractors provide quality HVAC systems and furnace repair.

# # #

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prwebheating-contractors/bay-area/prweb8897216.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/21/prweb8897216.DTL

He was broker-principal of the Vanguard Company, located in
Burlingame, dealing in commercial real estate. He was a member of
the South San Francisco Rotary Club, serving as president from July
1, 1993, to June 30, 1994. He was also a Paul Harris Fellow
recipient. 

He moved to Fairfield after marrying the love of his life. He
was employed by Hanlees Dealership in Napa, as a service adviser,
prior to his passing. 

George enjoyed helping people with whatever needed to be done,
fixing things, and always had a smile on his face. He was an expert
scuba diver, loved to travel to the Caribbean and Hawaii and, most
of all, creating digital travelogues set to music. He was an avid
49ers fan. 

He is survived by his loving wife of 19 years, Christine; his
son, Jean-Pierre; mother, Adela;  sister, Selma; brother, Sid
(Debi); brother-in-law, Vince (Judy); nieces and nephews, Elaine,
Ronnie, Bonnie, Sarah and Sean; and great-niece and nephew, Elina
and Ryan. His father, Amil, predeceased him.

A celebration of life will be held for family and friends at
Nadeau Family Funeral Home in Vacaville on July 20, from 11 a.m. to
2 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to dress comfortably for a
Caribbean-themed celebration. In lieu of flowers, please donate to
a charity of one’s own choosing.

Article source: http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/obituaries/george-h-samayoa/article_eb03c522-b280-11e0-8819-001cc4c03286.html

Nowhere in the country has the tightening of lab space supply been more evident than in the supply-constrained San Francisco Bay Area — especially in South San Francisco and the San Francisco CBD, where leading life science owners and developers such as Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (NYSE: ARE) and HCP Inc. (NYSE: HCP) are competing with technology and Internet companies for some of the last available land parcels.

In recent months, tech companies have scooped up land in the Bay Area that effectively eliminates millions of square feet previously earmarked for lab and biotech buildings in one of the nation’s tightest land markets. In response, Alexandria and HCP have acted recently to lock up available properties and fill the demand at increasingly healthy return profiles on new development, including assets within the Mission Bay redevelopment in San Francisco’s CBD, one of the most desirable biotech addresses in the country.

However, observers say they don’t expect another speculative boom like the one during the mid-2000s upcycle that fueled construction of millions of square feet of life science space in clusters like the Bay Area, Boston/Cambridge, San Diego, Raleigh and Durham, NC; New York, Seattle and suburban Maryland. Even in the tightest markets like Boston and San Francisco, companies are still mainly interested in less risky build-to-suit or solid pre-leased projects.

“Building true, specialized life science space on spec is a challenge given both the above-average cost per square foot and the unique needs of each user,” noted Chris Macke, senior real estate strategist for CoStar.

Just seven months ago, ARE sold most of its undeveloped Mission Bay land to cloud computing company Salesforce.com for construction of a global headquarters — a loss of up to 2 million square feet of potential new lab space development. In April, ARE jumped back into the Mission Bay market, acquiring a newly developed two-building property at 409-499 Illinois St. developed by Shorenstein Properties and SKS Investments.

Alexandria paid $293 million for the two towers totaling 453,000 square feet located across the street from the $1 billion University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) research and development campus and medical center.

The first 240,000-square-foot tower is 97% leased to a biotechnology company through November 2023, while the second tower has 212,000 square feet of rentable space in shell condition, which the company plans to build out. The acquisition gives ARE the capacity to develop nearly 300,000 square feet of additional new supply in Mission Bay, where it now has a footprint of more than 975,000 square feet of existing space at a vacancy rate that has dwindled to just 1%.

The peninsula has recently experienced a sharp increase in absorption, driving direct vacancy rates in South San Francisco to less than 5% and total vacancy to near-single digits when including subleased space, said Paul Gallagher, HCP chief investment officer, during the company’s first-quarter earnings call earlier this month. The ramp up of tenant demand from tech, life science and medical device companies has driven up rental rates by as much as 25% this year.

“This activity reiterates the importance of understanding which industries are driving the various markets and even submarkets across the country,” Macke said. “South San Francisco and the San Francisco CBD are benefitting from the confluence of tech companies and life science companies, as they have both chosen those submarkets as the place to be in the San Francisco MSA.”

ARE essentially traded development risk for leasing risk when it sold the Mission Bay land to Salesforce.com and acquired the new buildings from Shorenstein last month. But the decision whether to acquire or develop buildings is more than just a simple matter of comparing yields or initial rates of return, noted Joel Marcus, Alexandria chairman, president and CEO.

With a major presence in San Francisco, New York City and Boston/Cambridge, three of the nation’s strongest life science markets, the company is positioned to capitalize on pent-up demand as one of the few companies with the ability and resources to develop both build to suit and preleased projects.

In additional to the 300,000 square feet of remaining development capacity in Mission Bay, ARE has about 800,000 square feet left to build in New York at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, where it hopes to begin pre-marketing a 400,000-square-foot tower next month. The company also expects to announce the first build to suit at its Kendall Square project in Cambridge, where it has 1.7 million square feet in its development pipeline.

Leasing isn’t as brisk at its San Diego and North Carolina properties, but on May 18, Alexandria announced plans to build a 50,000-square-foot agricultural research center with 18,000 square feet of research greenhouse space near Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. The multi-tenant project will be called Alexandria Ag-Tech Center.

About 20% of HCP’s wholly owned properties are in the life science sector. Its portfolio also includes senior housing, medical office, post-acute/skilled nursing and hospitals assets.

In its life science portfolio, HCP has only about 750,000 square feet of vacancy across six buildings, with significant interest in about half of those buildings, HCP Chairman and CEO James Flaherty said.

Large tech companies such as HP, Motorola, Google and others have been expanding within Silicon Valley in recent quarters. Firms are now pushing from Mountain View and Sunnyvale northward into San Francisco, sometimes into land and space previously earmarked for life science development.

With lab vacancy now at about 5% in the San Francisco area, development may become an attractive option, with existing buildings for sale likely to be priced in the mid to high $600-per-square-foot range, HCP’s Flaherty said. And the company has jumped right in, announcing the purchase April 15 of the largest undeveloped site in the city, a 20-acre parcel called The Cove at the former U.S. Steel site in South San Francisco.

HCP acquired the land, next to the REIT’s 900,000-square-foot Oyster Point campus anchored by Amgen, from Genentech Inc. for $65 million and began development of The Cove at Oyster Point late last month. The project will deliver up to 800,000 square feet of new lab and office space at an estimated 8.5% return on cost, said Gallagher, the HCP CIO.

Flaherty emphasized that the bullish outlook on development is based on the heated South San Francisco area market, rather than a full-on development play across the company’s life science portfolio.

HCP, holding an already significant market share with its Amgen and Genentech campuses, will “move very quickly on [The Cove] to prepare for what we expect will be an attractive supply-demand dynamic in South San Francisco,” Flahery said.

Article source: http://www.costar.com/News/Article/LAND-GRAB-Developers-Ease-Back-Into-Life-Science-Market-As-Supply-Tightens/128906

Hawaiian music isn’t hitting the radio waves here on the mainland, but Kawika Alfiche is doing his best to ensure the culture stays alive on the Peninsula.

Living on the “island” of South San Francisco, 37-year-old Alfiche grew up traveling from the Bay Area to Hawaii and back. Keeping the Hawaiian traditions alive was a priority over the years which has blossomed into the opening of the Kaululehua Hawaiian Cultural Center and releasing music. His second album, Kale’a, was released this month with his musical stories generating revenue for the local education center.

A self-described airline baby, Alfiche grew up as part of the large Bay Area hula community.

Working in real estate to pay the bills, Alfiche kept up with hula and his love of Hawaiian traditions. After 17 years of performing and acting as a kumu (teacher) of hula, it was time to open a cultural center.

There were locations at which to teach, but rent continued to raise or leases were lost. One day, Alfiche saw a house with some land and a large garage for sale in South San Francisco. He sold his home in San Francisco and purchased what is now the Kaululehua Hawaiian Cultural Center where hula is taught, music is made and traditions like making leis are part of the courses offered.

Alfiche wanted a cultural center that offered hands-on educational opportunities for students. Dancing requires music and Alfiche prefers live music to pressing play. It was only logical, after years of growing up with the Hawaiian culture and being a hula child, he would attempt to master the Hawaiian language to allow him to write music.

Traditional Hawaiian music differs from what’s often on the Top 40. Alfiche compared it to Shakespeare’s English compared to the language spoken today. Mastering it took time, Alfiche laughed while saying the difference between his 2005 album and his current release is like watching a student’s mastery grow.

Through his love of Hawaiian culture, he met his partner of 15 years Kia’i.

From playful courtships to deep passion and lasting affection, it’s love Alfiche discusses in the songs throughout his new album.

The newly released album will get some play on the East Coast over the next few weeks as Alfiche and about 30 of his students travel and perform. For those on the West Coast, the music is available on iTunes, at cdbaby.com or at the only Hawaiian store in the Bay Area, The Aloha Warehouse in Japantown.

To learn more about the Kaululehua Hawaiian Cultural Center visit www.apop.net.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.

Article source: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=155422&title=A%20musical%20Hawaiian%20love