North Bay Business Journal

Several large retail construction projects are reaching completion or getting started in Sonoma County this year in Petaluma, Sebastopol and Windsor.

Office building owners and their tenants have long understood the value of depreciation expense in relation to cash flow.

Depreciation expense is a deduction that reduces taxable income and thereby increases after-tax cash flow.

Commercial real estate leases and sales in the north San Francisco Bay Area

Commercial real estate broker Burt Polson, who has operated ACRES Real Estate Services in Napa for two decades, is joining Strong & Hayden Commercial Real Estate. …

Stellar Energy, based in Rohnert Park, hired Chris Larsen as director of southeast project development. …

Kurt Hahn was honored for 15 years of service to Healdsburg District Hospital after he announced his retirement and resignation from the board. …

Chris Call recently joined the board of the Santa Rosa-based Climate Protection Campaign as treasurer. …

The California Parenting Institute board of directors welcomed five new board members. …

Sausalito-based Equilibrium named Pal Storehaug as its vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. …

Rack & Riddle, a Hopland winery and custom-crush facility, hired Raphael Brisbois as director of winemaking to lead the production of client and branded wines. …

Signorello Estate appointed Britny Sundin estate chef. …

Soutirage hired Master Sommelier Desmond Echavarrie as senior wine advisor. …

The Hess Collection, which has a winery in American Canyon, appointed Illinois-based Jeanne Jesse as north central regional sales manager. …

Cline Cellars and Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in Sonoma Valley named Robert Hawk as Great Lakes regional manager. …

The board of directors of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission announced that Karissa Kruse will be its next president, replacing Nick Frey as he retires. …

Each year the Business Journal turns to leading commercial real estate professionals across the North Bay to share their data and insights on the state of the markets and the outlook for the year. We want to say thank you again for their time and willingness to share their knowledge.

Technology and social media wages are being spent here in wine clubs and hospitality. Eventually, some of those employees will buy houses in the North Bay. That intellectual capital will create companies, some starting in the North Bay or moving here.

Going forward, we see substantial increases in sales of commercial real estate properties as investors realize we are at the trough of the market, with prices on the rise.

San Rafael and Novato were the most active Marin cities in terms of square feet leased in 2012. Absent unexpected new major additions of user-controlled space, we expect a continued gradual decrease in vacancy in 2013. Asking rents will edge higher as additional buildings raise asking rental rates.

The balance of power in the office market in southern and central Marin County continues to move in favor of landlords.

Looking forward into 2013, we are tracking an increase in demand over historical levels.

The new owner of Napa Town Center plans to announce new retailers and an operator of a hotel to be built in the redeveloped shopping center, now called The Shops at Napa Center.

Meanwhile, a number of Generation Y entrepreneurs plan to move their “soft goods” businesses into the downtown area, building on the retail energy created by dozens of new wine-tasting rooms and restaurants there.

The Santa Rosa office market continues to be challenging for property owners with vacancies. While higher than the doldrums of 2009–2010, tenant touring activity continues to be modest. Tenants still have the ability to take advantage of opportunities in the market to upgrade to higher quality space and in most cases are able to do so while lowering their occupancy expenses.

What started as a fairly benign Sonoma County multifamily income property market recovery turned into a full-blown juggernaut, as 2012 closed with a surge in sales and rental prices.

Going forward, expect more apartment investment as buyers are drawn to returns with solid growth potential.

Industrial real estate of Solano and Napa counties showed significant improvement in 2012 over 2011, as several significant leases were completed and some significant buildings sold. The overall industrial vacancy rate in Napa and Solano counties dropped for the seventh consecutive quarter at the end of 2012.

With the economy continuing to show signs of improvement, we expect continued demand and activity in 2013.

The economy continues to recover slowly, but we are experiencing positive growth in Petaluma. 2012 was a critical year. It appears to have been a turning point for Petaluma commercial real estate.

The North Bay’s low vacancy rate — not as much as the economy — is the biggest challenge to North Bay retail property. Increasingly rare available quality retail space and soaring rents for it are discouraging retailers.

Marin County apartment sales in 2012 turned from a buyer’s market at the beginning of the year to a strong seller’s market as inventory dropped and prices shot up.

Look for this year to be a turning point in Marin apartment property pricing.

The year 2012 has shown steady signs of economic recovery for the city of Benicia.

NAPA — Commercial real estate broker Burt Polson, who has operated ACRES Real Estate Services in the city for two decades, is joining Strong & Hayden Commercial Real Estate, the brokerage announced today.

SEBASTOPOL — FlashCo Manufacturing, a fabricator of roof-penetration details with integrated flashing designed to trim installation time and enhance waterproofing, is doubling the size of its headquarters plant in a move to Santa Rosa.

Certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building rating systems, better known as LEED, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council has been long the domain of single-tenant or owned commercial properties in the North Bay. Tens of thousands of dollars in consultant and staff time to document and verify materials, supplies and operations was an expense that had been difficult to line up with increased demand for multitenant properties. But that’s changed, as Macerich and Seagate Properties have been pursuing LEED certification for hundreds of thousands of square feet of North Bay office and retail buildings. …

Terra Firma Global Partners, started in 2010 as a residential real estate brokerage by former Pacific Union senior executives Bill Facendini and Heidi Rickerd-Rizzo, officially unveiled a commercial division in January with the completion of a few sales and leases in Santa Rosa and Windsor. …

Commercial real estate leases and sales in the north San Francisco Bay Area