S.F. real estate story line: Flight to quality
December 18th, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Tenant Activity, Zoning & City Hall Issues
The San Francisco Business Times
By J.K. Dineen
December 18th, 2009
San Francisco office tenants are increasingly gravitating to downtown’s most prestigious trophy towers, taking advantage of desperate landlords to lock in cheap rents, according to a study by Jones Lang LaSalle.
While overall San Francisco tenants gave up 1.3 million square feet more than they leased in 2009, the city’s 49 most prominent buildings — JLL calls them the Skyline 49 — actually had about 100,000 square feet of positive absorption over the past two quarters. [More...]
Brookfield Properties forecloses on 333 Bush in S.F.
December 11th, 2009 Filed Under Financial District, Tenant Activity
The San Francisco Business Times
By J.K. Dineen
December 11th, 2009
Brookfield Properties has foreclosed on 333 Bush St. and the cash-rich Toronto-based real estate investment trust is positioning itself to scoop up more distressed office towers over the next year.
Brookfield took ownership of the 543,000-square-foot office building Dec. 3 after a trustee sale on San Francisco City Hall’s back steps failed to produce any bidders. A Brookfield subsidiary held a junior piece of a $224 million loan on the property; Hypo Bankheld the senior piece of the debt. Brookfield Senior Vice President Bert Dezzutti, who oversees California for the company, said Brookfield has opened an office in San Francisco and is ramping up property management operations.
“It’s not how we envisioned we would enter the market, but we are comfortable with it,” said Dezzutti. “It will be for us a launching pad for a greater presence. Now with 333 Bush St. we will have a beachhead that will allow us to explore other opportunities. Our intention is to grow here, not to have a one-off building.” [More...]
Babcock & Brown Aircraft Subleases 28,730 SF
December 4th, 2009 Filed Under Financial District, South of Market, Tenant Activity
The CoStar Group
By Ryan Munneke
November 30th, 2009
Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management LLC subleased 28,730 square feet at 525 Market St. in San Francisco.
The commercial jet fleet management company will move in before the end of the year. Babcock subleased the Oracle space for $17 per square foot with two months free through October 2011.
Knickerbocker Properties Inc. XXI owns the First Market Tower, a 39-story, 1.08 million-square-foot office building at 525 Market St.
Lease expirations to slam San Francisco
November 16th, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Midmarket/ City Hall, South of Market, Tenant Activity
San Francisco Business Times
By J.K. Dineen
November 13th, 2009
A nascent recovery in San Francisco’s leasing market could be swamped by a wave of empty office space hitting the market in the next two years.
Consolidations by several large tenants — including Wells Fargo, Levi Strauss, Charles Schwab, Williams Sonoma and JP Morgan Chase - will result in the return of nearly 1 million square feet to the office market during the course of 2010, according to a forecast by Colliers International.
Wells Fargo will vacate 350,000 square feet at 155 Fifth St. in June 2010. In opting to renew at Levi’s Plaza at 1255 Battery St., Levi Strauss will shed about 200,000 square feet of its current 550,000-square-foot headquarters. William-Sonoma’s consolidation into the Icehouse on Union Street will result in about 75,000 square feet of vacant space at Mariposa Square on Florida Street and Wamu Card Services, now JP Morgan Chase, will give back about 105,000 square feet at 123 Mission St., according to Colliers. [More...]
Del Monte to expand into new HQ at One Maritime
October 30th, 2009 Filed Under Financial District, Tenant Activity
San Francisco Business Times
By J.K. Dineen
October 30th, 2009
San Francisco’s Del Monte Foods will relocate and expand its corporate headquarters to One Maritime Plaza, a 153,000-square-foot deal that is the city’s largest lease of 2009.
The new Del Monte headquarters, 27 percent larger than the company’s current home, will consolidate 400 workers from two locations: the Landmark at One Market, where Del Monte has 93,000 square feet, and 50 California St., where it leases 19,000 square feet.
The new headquarters will centralize the organization and will “further support execution of the company’s accelerated growth strategy,” the company said in a statement to the San Francisco Business Times. Del Monte has been based in San Francisco for more than 100 years. [More...]
Heidrick & Struggles Restructures Lease at One California Street
October 28th, 2009 Filed Under Financial District, Tenant Activity
The CoStar Group
By Laurie Forbes
October 28th, 2009
Executive search and consulting firm Heidrick & Struggles restructured and renewed nearly 31,000 square feet in office deals in Atlanta, Houston and San Francisco.
In its renewal of 12,395 square feet at One California St. in San Francisco, Heidrick was also able to shed extra space, score a significantly lower rental rate and get tenant improvement dollars from the landlord for the renovation of its existing office. State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio and Shorenstein Realty Services own the 32-story, 484,129-square-foot, Energy Star-rated building in the financial district. It is 97 percent leased. Tom McDonnell, vice president, leasing at Shorenstein represented the ownership group. [More...]
Nektar to move HQ to Mission Bay
October 2nd, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Mission Bay, South of Market, Tenant Activity
San Francisco Business Times
By Ron Leuty
October 2nd, 2009
Nektar Therapeutics Inc.will shift its headquarters and 150 employees to San Francisco after taking 102,283 square feet of office space in Mission Bay originally intended for Pfizer, Inc.
The move from San Carlos is laced with a heavy dose of irony: Two years ago, Pfizer pulled the plug on a drug collaboration with Nektar, and nearly killed the company in the process.
It’s also laden with sizeable savings. Nektar will pay no rent in the first four years of the 10-year sublease deal and will snag a $15 million tenant improvement allowance granted to Pfizer by landlord Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. [More...]
Brown & Toland Renews 53,148 SF
October 2nd, 2009 Filed Under Mission Bay, South of Market, Tenant Activity
The CoStar Group
By Ryan Munneke
September 25th, 2009
Brown & Toland Physicians renewed 53,148 square feet for seven years at 160 King St. in San Francisco.
The tenant is an independent practice association of more than 1,500 physicians serving 200,000 people. It is on the entire seventh floor and part of the sixth floor at 160 King. [More...]
Exploratorium a step closer to waterfront site
September 25th, 2009 Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, North Beach/ Waterfront, Tenant Activity, Zoning & City Hall Issues
San Francisco Chronicle
By John Cote
September 24th, 2009
Picture Courtesy of Socketsite
The Exploratorium is a step closer to getting a new home now that the city’s Port Commission has approved a 66-year lease to move the interactive children’s science museum to the waterfront, making it just a short walk from the Ferry Building.
The lease deal for side-by-side Piers 15 and 17 marks a major milestone for the proposal to move the renowned museum from the Palace of Fine Arts to the Embarcadero, where it would be readily accessible to pedestrians and ferry, BART and Muni passengers.
“It’s such a great location,” said Jennifer Sobol, project manager for the port. “It will be so easy for schoolkids and families to get there.” [More...]
Krieg Keller Reilly Sloan & Roman Leases 14,500 SF
September 25th, 2009 Filed Under Financial District, Tenant Activity
The CoStar Group
By Lauren Greenwald
September 22nd, 2009
Krieg Keller Reilly Sloan & Roman LLP leased the entire 17th floor totaling 14,487 square feet at 555 Montgomery St. in San Francisco. The law firm will relocate from 114 Sansome St. next February.
Built in 1984, the 17-story, Class A office building measures 228,573 square feet and is owned by United Commercial Bank. Krieg Keller’s office deal was the 13th lease inked in the building since the fourth quarter of last year, according to Anton Qiu of TRI Commercial/CORFAC International, who handles leasing with Jean Ko. Terms of the lease were undisclosed. [More...]
