Firms take Basin Fountaingrove space

Monday, January 11, 2010, 4:55 am

By Jenna V. Loceff, Business Journal Staff Reporter

Pisenti & Brinker LLP relocates; RBC Wealth will leave downtown

Basin Street Properties' Fountaingrove Executive Center office building at 3562 Round Barn Circle in Santa Rosa. (Keegan & Coppin photo)

SANTA ROSA — Pisenti & Brinker LLP and RBC Wealth Management have taken space in a newly completed 66,000-square-foot office building in the Fountaingrove area of northeast Santa Rosa.

The three-story building, located at 3562 Round Barn Circle overlooking Highway 101, is part of Fountaingrove Executive Center. Building developer Basin Street Properties has land to build a fourth building in the 15-acre complex.

RBC Wealth Management is currently in downtown Santa Rosa at 100 B St. The six-employee office is set to move Feb. 1.

Michael Coutre of RBC said he didn’t want to leave the downtown area, but access was an issue for his customers.

“There is parking for miles and a wonderful view,” he said of the new space.

Downtown, he said was difficult for clients because of parking and difficulty accessing the office.

The new space is two-thirds the size of the space RBC currently occupies, but there will be room to add staff. Mr. Coutre said he is actively recruiting.

For Pisenti & Brinker, the move was less than a half-mile from 3550 Round Barn Blvd.

“We have been able to be much more efficient in our use of office space,” said Bobbi Hoff Beehler, CPA, CFA with the firm. “For example, through our sustainable initiatives we have become more paperless as a business and no longer need the file room space that we used to require.”

Accounting has progressed from paper ledgers, which require extensive records storage, to bulky computer-based systems, which have their own specialized space needs, to smaller, more powerful computer servers.

“Overall, we have been able to effectively utilize our space in Santa Rosa, which has allowed us to use less space and decrease our rent costs, while still increasing our staffing,” she said.

To keep in line with green practices, Pisenti & Brinker used refurbished furniture, when possible.

The firm also is in the process of construction for expansion of the Petaluma office, and it relocated its Napa office late last year to a larger, more environmentally friendly suite in the Gasser Building.

The Napa office is now at 433 Soscol Ave., Ste. B171. The firm recently was named as a certified green business by the Napa Office of Environmental Management. Pisenti & Brinker incorporated a number of green building practices into construction of the new suite.

Shawn Johnson of Keegan & Coppin brokered the deal with Pisenti & Brinker. He and Danny Jones, also of Keegan & Coppin, worked on the RBC deal.