Spotlight on leaders in commercial real estate in the North Bay

JQUACKENBUSH

November 8, 2010

Developers are listed by county in alphabetical order by firm.

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SONOMA COUNTYLarry Wasem, Managing General Partner, Airport Business Center

414 Aviation Blvd., Santa Rosa 95403; 707-578-5344; www.airportbusinesscenter.com

North Bay project: Airport Business Center phase 7, Santa Rosa -- the latest expansion to the 463-acre business park has 17 acres of industrial land in Windsor.

Larry Wasem and Richard Coombs started Airport Business Center, which is the North Bay's largest business park, located near Charles M. Schulz--Sonoma County Airport north of Santa Rosa. The park has about 30 remaining developable acres, nine of which are in a 17-acre new phase of the development.

The partnership's other holdings include the 50 Santa Rosa Ave. office building and two movie theaters in downtown Santa Rosa as well as golf courses in Windsor and Petaluma.

The soured economy has challenged attraction and retention of tenants amid ample inexpensive options in the market, according to Mr. Wasem.

However, the organization has renewed leases with significant tenants and landed build-to-suit deals, including three in the new phase of Airport Business Center and two more possibly for the rest of that land. The key has been the organization's ability to get construction financing and offer tenant-improvement allowances at a time when some property owners aren't financially able to do so, he said.

It’s "something I wouldn't have predicted that I'd be able to compete because they don't have enough money to put in tenants," Mr. Wasem said.

Matt White, President and CEO, Basin Street Properties

1383 N. McDowell Blvd., Ste. 200, Petaluma 94954; 707-795-4477; www.basin-street.com

North Bay projects: Approvals to build 300,000 square feet of office buildings at Fountaingrove Executive Center in northeast Santa Rosa, Harvest Business Center by Charles M. Schulz--Sonoma County Airport, Redwood Business Center in northeast Petaluma and Petaluma Marina Office Center in southeast Petaluma

Matt White joined Basin Street Properties in 1994, when it was called G&W Management and he was involved in industrial development. He then moved to chief financial officer and finally to the top executive spot.

The company started in 1974 with the development of Redwood Business Park in Petaluma and expanded in the late 1990s to Novato, Napa and Santa Rosa. In 2005 Equity Office purchased 1.45 million square feet of office space in Sonoma and Marin counties for $270 million, giving Basin Street capital for expansion into hospitality, multifamily, retail and mixed-use projects in Petaluma, Windsor, Reno, Nev., then Sacramento. That included a transformation of an industrial section of downtown Petaluma into a movie theater-anchored mixed-use project.

Though the company headquarters moved to Reno last year, Basin Street is eyeing commercial real estate opportunities in Sonoma County, where the remaining 585,000 square feet of commercial space in the portfolio is 90 percent occupied, according to Mr. White. He noted that vacancy rates in the county are less ominous after subtracting out "functionally obsolete" office buildings built to fit businesses wanting to set up large operations amid a deep tech talent pool and cheap housing.

"In normal times, we'd be looking to pull the trigger to build another building," he said. "It's not going to happen with the current credit markets. We do have opportunities in Sonoma County, but it's not a long list. It's more about buying other people's problems or [joint-venturing] in other people's challenges, rather than ground-up construction."

Sonoma County commercial property is "well-positioned" for the next five years, and new construction likely won't return significantly until 2012, according to Mr. White. He views the difficulties in approving new business parks to be prohibitive and the lack of substantial overbuilding unfortunately thanks to the 2001 recession that hit the telecommunications and other high-tech companies in the county hard.

Brigitta Brondi, President, Brondi Development

3625 Westwind Blvd., Santa Rosa 95403; 707-579-2400; www.westwind-businesspark.com

North Bay project: Westwind Business Park, Santa Rosa -- 80-acre master planned development with the remaining 11 building pads prepared for immediate construction of up to 700,000 square feet of office and flex space

Brad Baker, President and CEO, Codding Enterprises

1400 Valley House Dr., Rohnert Park 94928; 707-795-3550; www.sonomamountainvillage.com

North Bay projects: Sonoma Mountain Village, Rohnert Park -- 175 acres; 839,000 square feet of commercial, office and retail space, including 500,000 square feet of existing office and warehouse space; planned urban village with 951 multifamily units and 743 single-family homes; approved; first phase possibly could start in 2011-12. Coddingtown, Santa Rosa -- 930,000-square-foot mall built in 1960; undergone upgrades, including a new anchor tenant; eyed for possible redevelopment. Former Los Robles Lodge site, Santa Rosa -- 3.5 acres south of Coddingtown envisioned for multifamily housing or retail; existing buildings are being demolished and planning has begun.

Brad Baker, step-son of founder Hugh Codding, came to the top executive post at Codding Enterprises in 2005 along with Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lisa Codding.

Since then, the company acquired the 200-acre former Agilent Technologies campus in Rohnert Park, now called Sonoma Mountain Village, entered a $50 million joint venture with Simon Property Group to reposition and potentially redevelop Coddingtown Mall and acquired the shuttered Los Robles Lodge property just south of the mall.

Mr. Baker also has started green ventures, such as the clean-tech-oriented Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster, Community Fuels and light-gauge steel panelized construction systems fabricator Codding Steel Frame Solutions.

Michael Dieden, Principal, Creative Housing Associates

8758 Venice Blvd., Ste. 101, Los Angeles 90034; 310-836-1342; www.challc.com

North Bay project: SMART Railroad Square project, Santa Rosa -- 40,000 square feet of offices, 30,000-square-foot farmer’s market on nine acres; construction of the first phase is set for completion by 2014; estimated cost $200 million

Creative Housing Associates, which Michael Dieden started in 1997, is partner with The John Stewart Co. and Equity Community Builders in the construction of a transit-oriented development at the future Railroad Square station for Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit.

Hugh Futrell, CEO, Hugh Futrell Corp.

200 Fourth St., Ste. 250, Santa Rosa 95401; 707-568-3482; www.hughfutrellcorp.com

North Bay commercial projects: Museum on the Square, Santa Rosa -- extensive renovation of the former AT&T downtown switching building with ground-floor restaurant, four floors of offices and five floors of housing in 40 units; proposed; construction to start in the second half of 2011. 250 Davis St. Santa Rosa -- four-story, 70,000-square-foot class A office building with ground-floor retail and interior parking; approved but on hold. 888 Fourth St., Santa Rosa -- seven-story mixed-use building with 6,200 square feet of office and retail space and 52 housing units; approved; allowed design options are being reviewed.

Santa Rosa native Hugh Futrell, a licensed general contractor and real estate broker, and Executive Vice President Bill Carle have built and consulted on more than three dozen residential, commercial and mixed-use projects in the North Bay. That includes the new Santa Rosa Community Health Centers clinic in Fountaingrove and the proposed redevelopment of the former downtown Santa Rosa AT&T switching building, set to be leased to Sonoma County Museum, TLCD Architecture and Metier.

"The general rule is that rents will need to rise to make new projects feasible," Mr. Futrell said. "It's all about employment generation."

The company is looking to acquire or develop rental housing in its base of operations, central Sonoma County, because of the soured market for condominiums. Plenty of properties are available at good prices, but the ability to convert units to rentals needs to be considered, he said.

In that direction, a joint-venture multifamily housing project at 499 Humboldt St. at Seventh Street in downtown Santa Rosa is set to begin in the first half of 2011 in a joint venture with nonprofit developer Burbank Housing.

Jack Gardner, President and CEO, The John Stewart Co.

1388 Sutter St., 11th floor, San Francisco 94109; 415-345-4400; www.jsco.net

North Bay project: Cannery, Santa Rosa -- proposed renovation of a former cannery in downtown Railroad Square recently reconfigured with two floors of a Club One fitness center and 68 senior-housing units; $48 million

David Geiser, Managing Director, Merlone Geier Partners

425 California St., 11th floor, San Francisco 94104; 415-693-9000; www.deercreekproject.com

North Bay project: Deer Creek Village, Petaluma -- 346,000-square-foot retail and office development on 36.5 acres, anchored by Lowe’s Home Improvement; release of the environmental impact report is set for November.

David Geiser, AIA, is one of six managing directors for Merlone Geier Partners. Based in the firm’s San Diego office, Mr. Geiser focuses on project design and construction and came to the firm in 1997.

The firm acquired the property from Downey Savings & Loan in August of last year. Merlone Geier started in 1994 to develop and redevelop retail and mixed-use projects in Western states. Petaluma recently indicated that a supplementary air quality study may be needed. The firm threatened to sue the city over delay of the project.

Richard Deringer, President, Odyssey Development Co. LLC

P.O. Box 1316, Sonoma 95476; 707-310-2291

North Bay projects: West End Village, Santa Rosa -- 42 single-family attached row homes and 5,000 square feet of retail in Railroad Square. DeTurk Winery Village, Santa Rosa -- 73 attached single-family homes in Railroad Square. Windsor Creekside Village, Windsor – 179 attached and detached small-lot single-family homes, 65,000 square feet of commercial space and a 100-room hotel; seeking housing-construction allocation under town growth ordinance; possible construction in 2011-12. Sonoma Valley Business Park, Sonoma – 300,000 square feet of wine and food-related light industrial space on 40 acres; approved by county, awaiting LAFCO approval.

Rhonda Deringer is one of the top-producing agents for the largest North Bay commercial real estate brokerage, Keegan & Coppin/Oncor International, which she joined in 1994. She and her development consultant husband, Richard, have undertaken mixed-use projects in the city of Sonoma and have received approvals for two large redevelopment projects in the Railroad Square district of downtown Santa Rosa. Sonoma Valley Business Park is a joint venture with Jay Ryder of Ryder Homes.

Ms. Deringer recently moved into full-time brokerage, and Mr. Deringer is now president.

The latest project is Windsor Creekside Village, a redevelopment of a former waterslide park for owner Deborah Emery. There are letters of intent to lease 17,000 square feet from law firm Zap Jonway for a new headquarters, a medical spa and another business.

Odyssey takes the single-family attached and detached approach to mixed-use urban development because of the bonding and legal liability issues related to condominium development and challenges leasing ground-floor retail in locations without optimum traffic, according to Mr. Deringer.

"We will see smaller single-family attached and detached units and less two to four floors of residential over retail," he said.

Jeff Civian, Project Civil Engineer, OSL Management LLC

220 Concourse Blvd., Santa Rosa 95403; 707-535-3200

North Bay project: Bell Village, Windsor – 77,000 square feet of retail and office space on 6.3 acres of a nearly 25-acre site with 29 townhouses and 374 condos, with 20 percent of the housing set aside for very low incomes; approved and granted housing waivers from the town growth-management ordinance; first phase of residential or retail to start construction in 2012; estimated cost $50 million-plus

Jeff Civian, P.E., has been working with Bill Gallaher at OSL Management on in-house design of projects since 1986, during construction of the Oakmont community of Santa Rosa. The company is redeveloping the Windsorland 200-space mobile home park for property owner Bell Village LP.

Peter Knoedler, Senior Vice President of Investments, Regency Centers Corp.

2999 Oak Rd., Ste. 1000, Walnut Creek 94597; 925-279-1800; www.eastwashingtonplace.com

North Bay projects: Santa Rosa Village, southeast Santa Rosa – 60,000 square-foot grocery, 38,000 square feet of community retail with 126 condos and apartments on 14.6 acres; approved; estimated cost $90 million. East Washington Place, Petaluma -- 378,000-square-foot regional shopping center anchored by a 139,000-square-foot Target store and possibly a Friedman Bros. Home Improvement store, if allowed, plus 16,000 square feet of office space on 33 acres; approved; estimated cost $185 million.

Peter Knoedler oversees acquisitions and development of projects by Florida-based shopping center giant Regency Centers in Northern California and Nevada. Regency acquired the former Kenilworth school property in Petaluma in 2004. The project was approved in February of this year, but lawsuits by a local group and Regency delayed the project until an agreement was reached in July.

Paul Elmore, President, RNM Properties

135 Main St., Ste. 1140, San Francisco 94105; 415-356-2000; www.rnmproperties.com

North Bay projects: Cader Corporate Center, Petaluma -- 354,000 square feet of office space on 20.4 acres; entitled and site preparation completed; South McDowell East, Petaluma -- 240,000 square feet of office space on 13.6 acres; entitled and site prep completed.

Paul Elmore has been president of RNM Properties since 2001 and joined the company a year before as a director. His career in property, asset and portfolio management, construction and leasing covers more than two decades in the U.S. and Europe.

RNM started in 1983 by Oracle Corp. co-founder Robert Miner and has more than 1.8 million square feet of office properties in San Francisco, San Jose, Petaluma and Rohnert Park, with the majority of the space in Sonoma County.

Joan Woodard, President and CEO

Larry Simons, Founder and chairman

Simons & Woodard Inc.

100 Stony Point Rd., Ste. 180, Santa Rosa 95401; 707-524-6300; www.simonsandwoodard.com

North Bay project: Northpoint Corporate Center, Santa Rosa -- 32 acres remain undeveloped with entitlements and zoning for up to 600,000 square feet of office space; all but six acres is entitled, properly zoned and declared to have no effect on listed species.

Joan Woodard rose to the top executive position in the firm in 2001 and in 2006 became an owner in the commercial real estate design, development and management firm architect Larry Simons started four decades earlier. Her real estate finance, development and leasing career started in the early 1970s and included work with the Rockefeller family portfolio, Bramela and The Disney Co.

Simons & Woodard manages about 1 million square feet of commercial space in Santa Rosa.

Commercial property owners need to focus on filling existing space in the next two years rather than building new space, according to Ms. Woodard.

“It’s wasteful and would dilute the market even more,” she said.

When it’s time to build again, company space needs may be significantly less than the 250 square feet per person estimate of years ago because of less space needed to hold records onsite, emergence of virtual and cloud dataservers and pressure from customers on the expense of large offices, she said.

William Saks, Principal, William A. Saks & Co.

1010 Main St., St. Helena 94574; 707-968-9696; www.williamasaks.com

North Bay project: Carneros Business Park, Sonoma -- 53 master-planned acres in 17 parcels; approved; occupants so far are Carneros Business Condominiums, Ganau America and Laura Chenel’s Chevre.

Bill Saks has been in residential, commercial and recently hospitality development for three decades. The firm manages Carneros Business Park for the Heck family.

MARIN COUNTYPatrick Kinney, Vice President of Real Estate, American Assets Inc.

11455 El Camino Real, Ste. 200, San Diego 92130; 858-350-2600; www.americanassets.com

North Bay project: Commons at Mt. Burdell, Novato -- redevelopment of the 65-acre Fireman's Fund campus, keeping the three office buildings totaling 710,000 square feet and adding 700,000 square feet of office and retail space, 170-room hotel with meeting center, health club, community facility and 150 units multifamily housing units

Patrick Kinney has overseen asset management for the big San Diego real estate investor since 2004. Started in 1967, American Assets owns 6.3 million square feet of commercial space in California, Texas, Illinois and Hawaii. It acquired the 65-acre headquarters campus of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. in north Novato in 2007.

A year later, American Assets proposed a major carbon-neutral two-phase redevelopment of the campus, keeping the existing buildings but putting in a hotel, shops, multifamily housing, two 250,000-square foot office buildings, community center, sports fields and a parking garage.

Dan Safier, President, The Prado Group

150 Post St., Ste. 320, San Francisco 94108; 415-395-0880; www.pradogroup.com

North Bay projects: 1107-1119 Grant Ave., Novato -- Upscale rehabilitation of the former Pini Hardware building as mixed-use retail and residential project with 15,000 square feet of street-oriented retail; Atherton Place, Novato -- 59 townhomes, 12,500 square feet of retail, 3,746 square feet of boutique offices

After building a Trader Joe’s-anchored retail center in central Novato, Dan Safier has other projects proposed as part of several years of city and private efforts to breathe economic life into the historic downtown area.

Wick Polite, President, Seagate Properties Inc.

980 Fifth Ave., San Rafael 94901; 415-455-0300; www.seagateprop.com

North Bay project: San Rafael Corporate Center, San Rafael -- third phase: an 80,000-square-foot class A office building and a second parking garage; to be built sometime in the next five years.

Willis “Wick” Polite Jr. joined Seagate Properties in 1980 in charge of property acquisition and development. He became a general partner in 1984.

Seagate owns and manages about 3 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space as well as several hundred apartments in mostly Western states. That includes a about a half-million square feet of Marin properties such as Montecito Plaza Shopping Center in San Rafael. Seagate also helped develop the $32 million Marin Health & Wellness Campus in San Rafael last year.

Seagate and the asset-management division of New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired San Rafael Corporate Center in mid-2007. The third and fourth buildings, each with 80,000 square feet, and a parking garage were completed in 2009.

This would be the third and final phase of the five-building, 404,000-square-foot class A office development on 13 acres of central San Rafael. The first two four-story buildings totaling 155,000 square feet were finished in 2001 by a previous owner.

Dennis Allen, Managing Partner, Urban One

P.O. Box 71128, Los Angeles 90071; 213-618-9781; www.urbanone.com

North Bay project: Hanna Ranch, Novato -- develop 19 acres south of Vintage Oaks Shopping Center with a three- and four-story hotel with 116 rooms, a single-story 13,500-square-foot retail building, a 42,200-square-foot two-story building with offices over shops, two 5,000-square-foot restaurant sites and about 10.5 acres of hillside parkland; environmental impact report under city review, construction targeted for 2012; estimated cost $20 million to $30 million

With a background in real estate investment analysis, acquisition and development with The Kor Group, Starpoint Properties and UBS, Dennis Allen, 37, started Urban One to manage complex development projects.

Pacific Star Capital LLC of Los Angeles, acting as Hanna Novato LLC, brought in Urban One after it acquired the Hanna Ranch property in mid-2008 from San Francisco-based Wilson Meany Sullivan, which was unsuccessful in getting approval for a 130,000-square-foot The Home Depot store to anchor a retail development on the site. Urban One has taken a different approach, with lower-key buildings proposed to complement a pond and the slopes of the property.

Demand for retail space is starting to come back, and that will drive consumer interest in lodging in the next two years, according to Mr. Allen.

“Businesses need to be in expansion mode for the office market to come back,” he said. “For now, demand is for offices that are small, like for medical offices.”

NAPA COUNTYGeorge Altamura, Owner, Altamura Enterprises

101 S. Coombs St., Ste. A, Napa 94559; 707-255-1000

North Bay projects: Napa Town Center, Napa -- renovation of a 110,000-square-foot shopping center

Since he started the company in 1952, George Altamura has become a major owner of real estate inside Napa, including the Kohl’s-anchored Napa Town Center shopping venue. A significant facelift on that property and marketing effort to fill 55,000 square feet of empty space started this summer.

Newly approved in the Altamura development pipeline is a 90-room hotel to replace the shuttered La Bamba bar, neighboring building and auto body shop on Soscol Avenue.

Scott Best, Owner, Best Properties

2580 Sierra Blvd., Ste. E, Sacramento 95825; 916-486-2694

North Bay project: The Shops at American Canyon, American Canyon --

four-building, 29,000-square-foot retail center on nearly four acres at American Canyon Road and Broadway; 14,000-square-foot Walgreens drugstore, a nearly 3,000-square-foot El Pollo Loco restaurant and retail buildings of 7,700 and 3,900 square feet each; applications for building permits

Douglas Pope, Managing Member, Headwaters Development Co. LLC

50 Fullerton Ct., Ste. 203, Sacramento 95825; 916-564-8899; www.headwaterscompanies.com

North Bay project: Napa Commerce Center Industrial Park, south of Devlin Road at South Kelly Road, Napa -- 218-acre joint venture with Deutsche Bank’s RREEF group; up to 2 million square feet of commercial space in buildings ranging in size from 50,000 to 400,000 square feet; first 646,000-square-foot warehouse was put on hold in late spring; American Canyon recently sought annexation of the property.

Mel Souza, Partner, Panattoni Development Co.

8775 Folsom Blvd., Ste. 200, Sacramento 95826; www.panattoni.com

North Bay project: Napa Airport Commerce Centre, American Canyon -- up to 750,000 square feet of warehouse space; several small for-sale office buildings on 50 acres; American Canyon recently applied to annex the property; proposal for the 12-acre first phase with four warehouses is awaiting approval of a plan to extend Devlin Road.

Panattoni Development has been a major developer of industrial real estate in Napa Valley, particularly in Green Island Industrial Park in American Canyon.

Joseph Peatman, President, Peter A. and Vernice H. Gasser Foundation

433 Soscol Ave., Ste. A-120, Napa 94559; 707-255-1646; www.gasserfoundation.org

North Bay projects: Gasser North, Napa -- joint venture with BLT Enterprises to build 70,000 square feet of retail and commercial space plus 500 high-density housing units on 21 acres. Gasser South, Napa -- joint venture 12-screen movie theater-anchored shopping center with Hearn Construction to build 80,000 square feet of shops and restaurants on 12 acres. Both projects are said to be close to locking in anchor tenants.

Joe Peatman became president of Napa County’s largest charitable organization in 1990. He’s a retired land-use attorney and co-founded Napa law firm Dickenson Peatman & Fogarty in 1964.

Keith Rogal, Founder and General Partner, Rogal + Walsh + Mol

5 Third St., Ste. 1014, San Francisco 94103; 415-922-1000; www.rogalwalshmol.com

North Bay project: Redevelopment of the former Napa Pipe Corp. plant, Napa -- 152 acres; 700,000 square feet of industrial space to be converted into an “urban village” with 2,580 attached and multifamily homes, 500,000 square feet of commercial and industrial space, a 150-room hotel and 400-student elementary school; Napa County’s environmental impact review of the project recently expanded to explore water resources.

Keith Rogal is trying to leverage his success with redeveloping a trailer park into the swank Carneros Inn resort in west Napa County to the redevelopment of a former Napa Pipe plant in south Napa by Napa Redevelopment Partners LLC, made up of his firm and Farallon Capital Management. They acquired the property in 2005.

Richard Rusnack, Director of Finance, Rudd Properties LLC

68 Coombs St., Bldg. C-1, Napa 94559; 707-253-1000; www.ruddprops.com

North Bay projects: Carnera Corporate Center, Napa -- 2.7 acres of land adjacent to existing buildings with 32,000 square feet of office condos, built in a joint venture with Ledcor Construction. Napa Junction, American Canyon -- 17-acre phase 3 of a Wal-Mart Supercenter-anchored open-air shopping center master developed with Lake Street Ventures; 131,000 square feet of retail; currently in environmental impact review; estimated cost $62 million

Richard Rusnack joined Rudd Properties in 2009 after four and a half years as a senior project manager for Chicago-based The Habitat Company, one of the nation’s largest multifamily property developers.

Leslie Rudd branched out from his Kansas-based distributorship Standard Beverage Corp. to start the Dean & Deluca specialty grocery chain, a Napa Valley winery and a property investment and development firm with Todd Zapolski called Zapolski & Rudd. The two investors split their companies amicably in mid-2008.

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