Latest Articles
Valley Transportation Authority Nabs The Mitchell Block
November 7, 2007
Sold, not sold, sold, not sold. Such went the story of The Mitchell Block in San Jose for years. It appears though this time, “sold” just might stick. The Mitchell Block, a 3.6 Acre parcel bound between Santa Clara and St. John streets between First and Market in downtown San Jose has finally sold to [...]
Sub-Prime Impact Likely to Continue
November 7, 2007
The sub-prime woes plaguing Wall Street firms is undoubtedly likely to continue. Citibank is expected to report approximately $11-12B in write-downs. Taking a quick sample of what has happened to the stock prices of companies such as Washington Mutual and Citigroup, it is without a doubt the case that those firms with large amounts of [...]
In San Jose, 45 Means Historic
October 31, 2007
In the city of San Jose, once a building has reached forty-five years of age, then the structure is branded a historic resource. For developers, this rule can present a problem which takes significant monies and time to remedy, either reworking plans to reincorporate the structure or jumping through the hoops needed to get permission [...]
Speculative Building in San Francisco Returns in a Big Way
October 31, 2007
For seven years, vacancy and rental rates in San Francisco made it economically infeasible for developers to build new office buildings. With rents up, vacancy rates down, and large blocks of space hard to find, speculative building has returned to San Francisco. There is currently approximately 2M square feet of office space under construction in [...]
Lionstone Group Purchases Page Mill Hill For $95M
October 31, 2007
Houston based Lionstone Group has purchased Page Mill Hill for roughly $510 psf. The 181,000 square feet projects sits on a ground lease from Stanford University and is located at 1801-1891 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto. This acquisition marks Lionstone’s first foray into Silicon Valley. The firm has partnered with pension fund CalSTRS to [...]
Mission West In Play Again?
October 24, 2007
According to Mission West Properties CEO Carl Berg, the portfolio of properties could be in escrow by the end of October. Earlier this year, plans to sell the portfolio of properties fell through when turbulence in the commercial paper market and associated credit crunch torpedoed the deal. The portfolio, consisting of nearly 7M square feet [...]
Shorenstein Picks Up Piece of Moffett Towers Debt
October 24, 2007
Shorenstein has purchased a $40M stake of the $216.8M construction financing debt package provided to Jay Paul Co. earlier this year for the construction of the Moffett Towers Project. The Moffett Towers project includes about 900,000 square feet of Class A Office Space and will eventually include an additional 900,000 square feet as well as [...]
Commercial Paper Market Being Revived by Citigroup,JPM, and Bank of America
October 15, 2007
Bank of America, Citigroup, and JP Morgan are expected to announce as early as today the establishing of an $80 Billion Commercial Paper fund. The fund is aimed at helping unlocking the asset-backed paper market from its current condition. The fund might also help avoid units setup to provide subprime debt from selling off their [...]
San Jose’s Green Vision Plan – Build/Retrofit 50M Square Feet by 2015
October 15, 2007
As part of San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s “Green Vision” Plan, the city has laid out a set of 10 goals it looks to achieve in 15-years time. One of those goals is the development or rehab of 50M square feet of commercial structurs in 15-years. A lofty goal for sure, and one that may [...]
Housing Auction Reveals Pockets of Weakness
October 14, 2007
In a two-part series of articles, the San Jose Mercury News puts on display the sheer impact the downturn in the housing market has had on some greater Bay Area neighborhoods. The first article discussed the jitters homebuyers have after Anderson Homes, the builder of their neighborhood has decided to auction of the remaining homes in [...]
