Ellis Partners
111 Sutter St, San Francisco 94104, 415-391-9800, www.ellispartners.com
Founded: 1993
Square footage: 4.3 million
North Bay history: Co-developed more than 1 million square feet of space in southwest Santa Rosa
SAN RAFAEL -- Now is the time to invest in Marin County office real estate, according to a San Francisco-based commercial property developer and investor that just purchased a 130,200-square-foot building in San Rafael.
"We've been following the San Rafael market and southern Marin for a while," said James Ellis, managing partner of Ellis Partners, LLC, and director of development and leasing.
An affiliate of the company purchased 4040 Civic Center Dr. from Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust Kilroy Realty, LP, on Oct. 31 for $34.9 million, according to public records.
It's the latest in a string of big Marin office sales. Equity Office sold its 130,000-square-foot Drakes Landing complex in Greenbrae late last year for and its 82,700-square-foot Wood Island property in Larkspur for $100 million combined. BioMarin Pharmaceutical bought San Rafael Corporate Center in San Rafael for $116.5 million early this year.
Two trends, in particular, are decreasing vacancy and increasing southern Marin there, Mr. Ellis said.
"It's bringing the market out of what has been a very long doldrum," Mr. Ellis said.
First, business growth in San Francisco is making what top-class space is available there more expensive, so companies are looking elsewhere, such as close to where executives live, he said.
Second, BioMarin's purchase of its 13-acre headquarters campus is spurring other tenants in the existing 315,000 square feet of space to look for new homes in Marin.
Upgrades planned
The 4040 Civic Center building is 97 percent leased, primarily to Autodesk and Pasha Group. About $7 million in building upgrades were undertaken by the previous two owners, Mr. Ellis said. The company plans to invest about a couple million more dollars over the next 12 months replacing the roof and internal systems.
North Bay builder
Mr. Ellis co-founded Ellis Partners (ellispartners.com) in 1993. In the late 1990s, the company bought land in the 74-acre Northpoint Corporate Center business park off Corporate Center Parkway in southwest Santa Rosa. With Santa Rosa-based development partner Simons & Woodard, the company built more than 1 million square feet of industrial and office space, most prominently the 129,000-square-foot former Nokia building. Ellis Partners exited the investments three years ago.
Today, Ellis Partners has a portfolio of 4.3 million square feet of office, retail, industrial and urban mixed-use properties, concentrated around the greater Bay Area.
George Eckard of Cushman & Wakefield represented seller Kilroy, which bought it in 2011 for $30.65 million. Glen Dowling and Tony Sarno of Cushman & Wakefield are leasing the property.
