Barker Pacific Group acquires Rowland Plaza

Monday, October 12, 2009, 4:40 am

NOVATO – In one of the only non-distressed property sales in California this year, Los Angeles-based real estate developer Barker Pacific Group purchased Rowland Plaza in Novato. Rockwood Capital LLC, a real estate investment company, is an equity partner in the acquisition.

The owner chose to liquidate the asset for cash, and the deal was financed by Wells Fargo with a typical debt-to-equity loan.

The plaza, located just north of Vintage Oaks Shopping Center, consists of three properties with 168,000 square feet of office and retail space. Barker Pacific will manage the property, and 75 percent of the office space and 100 percent of the retail space is occupied.

“Rowland Plaza was a very attractive value play, and adding to our existing Marin County asset base was very appealing by providing a greater economy of scale for our property management team based at Hamilton Landing,” said Barker Pacific Managing Director Michael Barker.

Barker Pacific was the developer of the innovative Hamilton Landing project that converted hangars at the old site of the Hamilton Air Force Base into office space.

George Eckard and Grant Lammersen of Cushman Wakefield’s San Francisco office represented the seller, and Haden Ongaro and Brian Eisberg of Orion Partners represented Barker Pacific and will coordinate leasing the project’s available space. Existing tenants include Staples, the city of Novato, Braden Partners, Rosenthal & Company, The Prieston Group and the county of Marin.