Why these Marin, Sonoma, Solano, Napa commercial real estate transactions are a big deal for local business
Even while commercial real estate deal-making during the second year of the coronavirus pandemic was ramping back up, the North Bay saw some sizable lease and sale transactions. Some of them were the largest in over a decade.
Here are highlights from Marin, Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties.
Marin County
Two San Francisco real estate investors in December purchased the largest portfolio of North Bay commercial real estate in 16 years, moving the unwinding of a Novato-based investment company’s Ponzi scheme into a new chapter.
Hamilton Zanze Real Estate Investments and affiliated commercial property firm Graham Street Realty together with New York-based Davidson Kempner Capital Management bought 60 of upward of 70 properties that were the backbone of the late Ken Casey’s companies Professional Financial Investors and Professional Investors Security Fund.
The deal price for the more than 1.4 million square feet of commercial and multifamily space in Marin and Sonoma counties was $436.5 million. That includes 935 residential units and about 680,000 square feet of mostly class B office and other commercial space. The transaction netted roughly $140 million to the bankruptcy estate, after many of the banks that had senior equity positions on the properties had been paid in full.
Hamilton Zanze plans over $10 million in renovations to the properties.
Matt Storms of Keegan & Coppin Co. Inc. worked with FTI Consulting on the marketing of the portfolio.
Two of Marin County’s biggest leases the past 12 months were by two new companies in its growing wellness and life sciences cluster.
One deal was nearly 15,000 square feet for Helix LLC at 161 Mitchell Blvd. in San Rafael.
The other lease was part of six deals for 60,000 square feet at Shoreline Office Center in Mill Valley, more than filling up the 45,000 square feet that Glassdoor vacated last year in its consolidation move of Bay Area locations to San Francisco. Among those leases was Jyzen Labs, which expanded to 18,273 square feet there. Set to open next month, the “bio-optimization center” employs "biohacking" approaches from integrative health, biometrics, intravenous therapy and “tissue-based body work.” It’s a collaboration between Mark Hinds, Dr. Beth McDougall of Clear Center of Health and Cindy Reynolds of NeuroFit Marin.
The other tenants were Club Evexia wellness center, Every Man Jack male-oriented personal care products, OBE Worldwide marketing agency and Cypress Point Investment Management.
Alisa Belew and Haden Ongaro of Newmark represented Jyzen Labs and Shoreline owner Basin Street Properties in the lease deal.
Napa County
Two of the biggest commercial transactions in Napa County, not surprisingly, involved its largest industry: wine.
M7 Wine Solutions leased the nearly 80,000-square-foot newly constructed Building H at 502 Devlin Road in Napa Commerce Center. The south Napa project is being developed by NCC Venture I LLC, led by Kraemer Land Company, Cardinal Development and the Pigman Companies LLC. Glen Dowling, Matt Bracco and Chris Neeb of JLL were the listing agents.
And Madera-based G3 Enterprises, which offers a range of industry services, from grape and wine hauling to packaging production, purchased DeSemoni Properties’ nearly 250,000-square-foot warehouse at 1000 Green Island Road in American Canyon. Industry sources put value of the November transaction at $36 million, or $144 per square foot.
Solano County
The largest Solano County commercial building sale in the past 12 months was next door in Vacaville to the largest one that changed hands the previous year. On March 15, TGA Midway Distribution Center LLC, led by Nuveen Real Estate, purchased 4800 Midway Road, a newly completed nearly 618,000-square-foot sortation center warehouse for Amazon at NorthBay Logistics Center.
It sold for $110.5 million, which was a record high price for a single industrial building in Solano or Napa counties, according to Colliers International.
Brooks Pedder, John McManus and Tony Binswanger of Cushman & Wakefield listed the property for owner 700 Crocker II Owner LLC. The 843,000-square-foot 700 Crocker Road building sold to DRA Advisors in late 2020 for $88.5 million.
A key large Solano lease was wine and beverage packaging supplier Owens Corning’s lease of the newly built 252,423-square-foot LogistiCenter at Vacaville distribution center at 2121 Icon Way.
Sonoma County
Two of the biggest commercial property deals in Sonoma County also would have involved Amazon. But in March the e-commerce giant put a planned 181,000-square-foot facility near Sonoma County airport on hold and dropped its intention to lease the 250,000-square-foot Victory Station property near Sonoma.
Beyond those, electric tractor maker Solectrac and architectural plastics producer MILwright tied for top deals. Fueled by new ownership and expanding nationwide distribution, Solectrac leased 36,000 square feet at 5600 Earhart Court. MILwright in March relocated its production from Sebastopol to 35,800 square feet at 3810 Cypress Drive in Petaluma.
Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, construction and real estate. Before coming to the Business Journal in 1999, he wrote for Bay City News Service in San Francisco. Reach him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.
