North Bay Business Journal

Sonoma County retail: Pent-up demand driving a surge in leasing

Sonoma County retail real estate remained stable through 2010 and into 2011. The outlook for this year is relatively positive as more retailers come into the market and absorb vacancies.

Napa downtown: Bring the great restaurants and retail will follow

For years, many said that if we brought great restaurants to downtown Napa, retail would follow. Retail has arrived.

Marin County retail: Shopping center tenants upgrade, backfill vacancies

There will be a continued upgrading of tenancies and back-filling of vacancies at shopping centers throughout the county. First-tier shopping centers are posting rental rate growth and will continue to do so throughout the year. Second-tier centers will remain flat or experience limited rental growth and third-tier centers will continue to face downward pressure on rents.

New Third Street Cinemas property owner plans upgrades

SANTA ROSA — A downtown Santa Rosa property once approved for 14 stories condominiums and shops before economic conditions made the project infeasible sold to a Berkeley-based property investor who plans exterior maintenance to the existing movie theater complex in the next five years.

Town Green Village faces new loan challenges even as some prospects improve

WINDSOR — As the developers of the 14-acre Town Green Village mixed-use community in central Windsor work to finalize a deal to sell two buildings left partly built because of the economy and complete a workout of $15 million in loans, they are facing a new round of default notices totaling $1.54 million in due balances on a half-dozen properties.

Commercial Real Estate: Petaluma apartments attract $68 million

A 492-unit south Petaluma apartment complex, one of the largest in Sonoma County, sold for $68 million to a Southern California institutional investor, 15 months after it was purchased for $52 million. … A Sacramento-based real estate investor acquired a long-vacant former Yardbirds store in Vacaville with plans to upgrade the 45,000-square-foot building with 8,500 square feet of covered garden area and 6,000 square feet of yard space in the Browns Valley Marketplace shopping center. … Santa Rosa medical device startup Sapheon Inc. found a place to base development of a less-painful treatment for varicose veins. … Jim and Jennifer Jensen together with Lance and Dana Stafford, the third generation of ownership in Napa-based architectural ironworks shop Jensen’s Ornamental Inc., purchased a 6,350-square-foot warehouse at 561 California Blvd. in Napa from Sue Branson on Jan. 31 for $879,000. … San Rafael-based landscaping supplies retailer Watersavers Irrigation Inc. on Feb. 1 expanded and relocated its Petaluma store to 840 Perry Lane, a 10,000-square-foot industrial building that was vacant after it was completed in 2007, according to Keegan & Coppin agent Nathan Ballard.

Good Earth plans to expand in 2011 move

FAIRFAX — Good Earth Natural & Organic Foods today announced plans to relocate next fall to a larger space in a former Albertsons store in Fairfax.

Daphne’s to be sold

SANTA ROSA – Daphne’s Greek Cafe, which had a location in Santa Rosa, will emerge from Chapter 11 through a sale of substantially all of its operating assets to a new holding company formed by Trefethen Advisors LLC.

2010 Midyear Report – RETAIL: National tenants return as retail market comes back to life

2010 Midyear Report – RETAIL: National tenants return as retail market comes back to life

Commercial Real Estate: South Napa wine warehouse deals push down vacancy

About 265,000 square feet in wine warehouse deals were inked recently in the south Napa area, with 164,000 square feet of that being net market absorption. … Hundreds of thousands of square feet of big-box retail space has gone dark in the North Bay in the past two years, but a number of the spaces are getting scooped up by retailers looking to reduce the cost of expanding into the market. … Four agents and brokers affiliated with Orion Partners, which closed earlier this year, have landed new associations. … As the city of Healdsburg narrows its list of consultants that will prepare long-range land-use plans for the central part of the city, longtime lumber vendor Nu Forest Products is vying to be considered as a transit-friendly mixed-use redevelopment site about a block south of the Plaza. …

Commercial Real Estate: Is TJ Maxx coming to Petaluma’s ex-Mervyn’s?

Also: Lowe’s plans two stores; Costco shifts Ukiah site

Commercial Real Estate: Big 5 to move from Coddingtown Mall

Whole Foods resumes Coddingtown store work; Petaluma industrial heats up

Urban Outfitters to open store in Marin County

CORTE MADERA – Retailer Urban Outfitters will occupy 9,154 square feet at the Town Center Corte Madera this fall.

Commercial Real Estate: Lease-option used in Fairfax deal; also, Basin Street signs Marina tenants

LRG Capital Group’s lease-option acquisition last week of the 66,100-square-foot Fair-Anselm Plaza shopping center and offices in Fairfax is an example of the type of creative deal-making called for when both tenants and financing can be scarce, according to Roger Smith, an agent with Cornish & Carey Commercial who has been marketing the Fairfax property for the Friedman family for years.

Hollywood Video parent to close all stores

NORTH BAY – Movie Gallery Inc. is closing all its U.S. video and game rental stores, which includes six Hollywood Video and Game Crazy locations in the North Bay.

LRG Capital acquires Fairfax shopping center

FAIRFAX — LRG Capital Real Estate Partners I Fund, managed by a commercial real estate investment subsidiary of Larkspur-based LRG Capital Group, acquired the 66,100-square-foot Fair-Anselm Plaza retail and office center.

The investment fund, acting as Fairfax Center Properties LLC, on Monday entered into a lease agreement with an option to purchase the 40-year-old shopping center from Fair-Anselm Center Inc., according to LRG Capital Group and public records.

Marin Gateway for sale

MARIN CITY – The owner of the 182,000-square-foot Marin Gateway Shopping Center is soliciting purchase offers through mid-May, with expectations of a sale price around $40 million, according to one of the listing agents, Dan Wald of Terranomics Retail Services in San Francisco.

Northgate retailers open

SAN RAFAEL — The recently remodeled Northgate mall in San Rafael announced the opening of five retailers and restaurants scheduled this month. The new spaces totaling nearly 13,000 square feet include Buckle, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Crazy 8, Roadside BBQ and Payless ShoeSource.

Once Levitz Furniture, now paintball venue

ROHNERT PARK – Two brothers plan to transform a vacant Levitz Furniture store along Highway 101 into an entertainment facility centered on a tournament-level indoor paintball field.

Target updates San Rafael store plan ahead of April deadline

SAN RAFAEL — Up against a mid-April deadline to submit an amended project application for its planned 137,000-square-foot store in Shoreline Center, Target Corp. on Thursday filed the document with three minor changes. The retailer wants to open the store by March 2012 and expects to employ 250 to 300 people, mostly from the surrounding area of the city.