Top Solano deals: Vallejo’s Mare Island changes hands; investor buys 128 apartments
When it comes to North Bay commercial real estate, Solano County tends to be where the properties are bigger than elsewhere in the region, except for southern Napa Valley.
This year’s report on the largest deals in Solano again includes a lease for a cavernous warehouse and sizable apartment complexes trading hands.
The Business Journal asked local real estate experts what recent deals revealed the direction of commercial activity and demand for property to support business plans. Below are examples of big plays by warehouse and multifamily investors, including deals to give wine logistics companies a more efficient location to serve Wine Country.
Mare Island redevelopment
Vallejo
Size: Over 800 acres
Buyer: The Nimitz Group
Seller: Lennar Mare Island Company and other owners
Transactions: Throughout 2019
The Nimitz Group is a partnership of vintner and distiller Dave Phinney, creator of The Prisoner and Orin Swift fine-wine brands; billionaire investor Gaylon Lawrence Jr., owner of Heitz Cellar in Napa Valley; and Sebastian Lane, who owns Depiction Wines.
The group first got involved with the decommissioned Navy shipyard in 2018, when the city of Vallejo selected its redevelopment proposal for 157 acres at the north end of the island.
Nimitz then started acquiring more land on Mare Island throughout 2019 from other property owners and Lennar Mare Island, an affiliate of Florida-based Lennar Corp. that has been redeveloping 650 acres of the island since 1999. In November, the group inked public-private partnership with the city to take over as the new redeveloper and property manager of 3.6 million square feet of leased commercial, light industrial, manufacturing and office space that's home to over 110 businesses and 3,000 jobs.
The group has been holding community planning meetings to craft a new look for the area.
North Bay Logistics Center
700 Crocker Drive, Vacaville
Deal size: 404,950 square feet
Lessor: LDK Ventures LLC and PCCP LLC
Listing agents: Brooks Pedder, John McManus and Tony Binswanger of Cushman & Wakefield
Lessee: 24Seven Enterprises
Procuring agents: Brooks Pedder and Scott Bertrand of Cushman & Wakefield
Transaction: Second quarter 2019
LDK Ventures LLC and PCCP LLC purchased the former 800,000-square-foot Savemart distribution center in October 2017 and nearly a year later leased just over half the building to Marin County-based Serena & Lily as an e-commerce fulfillment hub.
In the largest North Bay lease deal since the earlier one in the same building, wine logistics company 24Seven Enterprises occupied the other half of the building last August. 24Seven had in November 2018 picked up Sonoma County-based order-fulfillment service Pack n’ Ship Direct, which has multiple locations, and Napa-based third-party logistics firm Vin-Go. Earlier this year, 24Seven acquired Sonoma’s Wineshipping, which also operates from multiple warehouses.
More is planned at North Bay Logistics Center. A 600,000-square-foot second phase is in entitlements for the 124-acre property, which fronts on Interstate 505.
Rockwell Manor Apartments
693 E. Tabor Ave., Fairfield
Size: 64 units with 61,644 square feet on 3.61 acres
Seller: Rockwell Manor Associates
Buyer: Standard Fairfield Venture LP
Listing and procuring agents: David Cutler, Joshua Johnson, Kirk Trammell and Mitchell Zurich of Marcus & Millichap
Price: $17.35 million
Transaction: May 21, 2019
The buyer of the complex is an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Standard Companies, whose Standard Communities subsidiary was named by Affordable Housing Finance journal among 2019’s top 50 affordable housing owners and top 10 rehabbers of such dwellings. It was the first of two recent Standard deals for Solano apartments.
The complex was built in 1981 and sold 13 days after the last listing at a capitalization rate of 3.65%. It was a per-door and per-square-foot price of $217,000 and $281, respectively.
Parkside Villa
1650 Park Lane, Fairfield
Size: 64 apartments with 59,976 square feet
Seller: Parkside Villa Associates
Buyer: Standard Fairfield Venture LP
Listing and procuring agents: David Cutler, Joshua Johnson, Kirk Trammell and Mitchell Zurich of Marcus & Millichap
Transaction: May 21, 2019
Price: $16.65 million
The second Standard Companies deal in Solano also had been on the market 13 days, selling at a cap rate of 3.54% and the equivalent of $277 a square foot and $260,000 a unit. The complex was built in 1979.
Jeff Quackenbush (jquackenbush@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4256) covers wine, construction and real estate.
