Fresh & Easy Expansion Delayed Indefinitely

Happy Holidays!

I'm at that lull between Christmas and New Years, so I'm going through my backlog of Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journals.

I noticed a blurb that mentioned the Fresh & Easy expansion in Northern California has been delayed indefinitely. They were planning on opening 18 stores throughout the Bay Area during 2009 with one each in Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Hayward and two in San Jose, but not any more. No dates were given in regards to if and when these stores would be opening.

I guess the current economic situation has hit these guys as well as Whole Foods.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Professional Brokers' Forum to Continue

I had written last week that due to SB 133 the Professional Brokers' Forum (PBF) was being discontinued.

Well, finally some good news. I received an email and PBF is going to continue. (I'm happy to see it back since it was the first brokers' forum I started attending when I started in Commercial Real Estate.)

Ron Ricard of IPX Investment Property Exchange Services, Inc. (a 1031 exchange company) is going to be the new co-sponsor along with the current (and long time) co-sponsor Peter Kline with the law firm of Miller, Morton, Caillat & Nevis.

The first meeting of 2009 will be February 12, 2009. I'll forward on the particulars when I get them.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

California Senate Bill 133 & Professional Brokers' Forums

I heard about Senate Bill 133 (click on the Title for a copy of the bill) a couple of weeks ago when I attended a seminar given by a Title Company. They mentioned that things were really going to change with SB 133 in terms of what they could provide as a sales person.

I didn't give it much thought until yesterday when I received an email from Brad Wheeler of Chicago Title informing me that they were going to have cancel their Professional Brokers' Forum (PBF) effectively immediately. I've been attending the PBF since I started in Commercial RE and have always found it informative and appreciated Brad's insight on the market.

I'm really going to miss PBF, so thanks Brad for all those years.

The questions are how is SB133 going to effect the other meetings/forums that are sponsored by Title Companies and what, if anything, is going to fill the void?

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Square Feet Commercial Real Estate Blog

I just added this blog to my Technology & Real Estate links. (Click on the title to go there directly.)

I started checking out this link a couple of months ago. Originally, I thought it was the SJMN real estate blog (which as since become defunct. IMHO a big mistake by the SJMN.) It's really grown on me and I have it on my Google Reader list. It always seems to have the quickest and most accurate updates on what's going on in Silicon Valley.

Comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

NCalCCIM Dec 9th Holiday Luncheon Meeting

Here I am shilling for the Northern California Chapter of CCIM again. This isn't your typical meeting because there's no guest speaker. It's just a chance to relax and network. (Please click on title to register.)

Singer, songwriter and actress Antonia Venezia and her keyboard accompanist will add a festive note to the annual Holiday luncheon meeting at which the new directors are sworn into office and 2008 volunteers are recognized by President John Shaw.

There will be no Mentoring Session this month. However, preceding the luncheon meeting at 10:30 AM will be a Marketing Session and a CCIM Candidate Portfolio Workshop, held concurrently. (These workshops were very helpful to me when I was putting my portfolio together. If you're thinking of submitting your portfolio by January 27, 2009, you should probably attend.)

The meeting will be held at the Four Points Sheraton, 5121 Hopyard Road, Pleasanton, CA.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Bay Area Apartment Brokers Forum

This is one of my favorite forums, even though I don't specialize in Multi-Family. If you want to know about what's going on in the Bay Area Multi-Family market, you need to go to this meeting. There's a lot of insight and experience here (and they're willing to share).

(Please note that there has been a change in location.)


Group: Bay Area Apartment Brokers Forum - Established 1986
Guest Speaker: Robert Meyer, CCIM, MBA-Principal, Realty Exchange Solutions
Topic: Tenant-In-Common Industry Overview 2009
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 8 AM
Place: First American Title Company, 1737 North First St., San Jose -4th Floor
Breakfast: Continental Breakfast - no charge - First American Title/Exchange
Chairman: Richard Domich - CB Richard Ellis
Vice Chairman: Keith Suddjian - Cornish & Carey
Membership: Kari Noomen - Washington Mutual
Sponsor: Mary KayKennedy - First American Exchange
Sponsor: Joe Campi - First American Title
Sponsor: Paul Monaco - First American Title
Adjournment: 9:30 AM

Note: All present will have an opportunity to present their listings, buyer requirements, as well as their analysis of current events and market trends that directly effect the multi-housing (apartment) industry in Silicon Valley and greater Bay Area. (This is my favorite part. How often do you get brokers like Richard and Keith sharing their insights?)

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Answer - Whole Foods on Blossom Hill Road

Here's the answer to my question on the status of the Whole Foods on Blossom Hill Road from the current issue of the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

Harry Mavrogenes, head of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency, saids that the construction of the two South Bay stores will be delayed and the size of the stores will be scaled back, but that "They are not stopping. They will stop work now, but they still intend to open."

The Blossom Hill Road store's opening has been pushed back from 2009 to 2010 and the store will now be 50,000 sf instead of 70,000 sf.

The Downtown area store's opening date has been pushed back to 2011 and the store will now be 36,000 sf instead of 40,000 sf, but will lose the rooftop parking.

Your comments are alway appreciated. Thanks for reading.

JV:SVN Sustainable Buildings Initiative: Electronic Plan Check & Permitting

At the end of October, I attended the Sustainable Building Initiative launch event presented by the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network (JV:SVN).

I received an email this week indicating that they have posted all of the presentations on their website: www.jointventure.org/programs-initiatives/sustainable/index.html.

I was especially interested in the Electronic Plan Check & Permitting Initiative. (I use to be a mechanical engineer in a past life and can remember actually doing drawing with a t-square and triangles on large sheets of vellum and making numerous copies to distribute, so this was all very cool.)

The presentation was very well given by Doug Rider of CSG Consultants. (Click on the title to go his presentation.) The slides aren't as good as his live presentation, but it will give you a good idea of the process and benefits.

If you're wondering what this has to do with Sustainable Buildings, here's something to think about. Getting plans approved and permits issued typically involves printing 6-7 sets of plans weighing as much as 20 pounds each. Additional sets are required each time the plans are modified. A typical Silicon Valley city consumes around 12,000 pounds of paper per year in this process.

They have appeared to have gotten off to an excellent start with their project concept. It will be interesting to continue to monitor their progress.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Whole Foods on Blossom Hill Road

I'm just curious if anyone has heard anything about the Whole Foods Market on Blossom Hill Road. The company's stock has been taking a pounding recently (but then it seems everything I own has also taken a pounding) and I heard a rumour that they were going to slow down the construction and delay the opening.

I drive by it a couple times a month and it seems that they were going hot and heavy in the demolition phase. However, when I drove by this week, it seems that they've shut down for the winter. Has anyone heard anything?

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Random Thoughts on SV Commercial Real Estate

Today has been a strange day. I started the day very positive because I won the office football pick'um pool (for amusement purposes only) and then I picked up the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

Out of the three articles on the front page, two of them could be viewed as "negative" commercial real estate articles. One was about Sobrato Development stopping work on their Lawson Lane - Santa Clara campus. The other was about the tough times at CBRE.

I know that negative news sells papers, but I wish that we could see some positive news once and awhile.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Basics for Greening Your Property

This is from the Green Boot Camp (presented by BB&T Insurance Services) that I attended.

It is an excerpt from the article "Ways to enhance energy efficiency and reduce your resource consumption" by Danny Murtagh of Boston Properties.

Basics for Greening Your Property

• Benchmark your building on the EPA Energy Star website.
• Preventative maintenance to improve operating efficiencies.
• Retrofit lighting to T8 or T5 technology.
• Replace incandescent lamps with screw-in fluorescent lamps.
• Consider other types of light bulbs and technology.
• Install occupancy sensors in the building.
• Consider the use of solar window film,
• Install variable speed drives on equipment.
• Install a lighting control system.
• Install a photocell operations on exterior lighting and get rid of the time clock.
• Start replacing older toilets and urinals with new low-flow technology.
• Replace your faucet aerators with 0.5 GPM type aerators.
• Retro-commissioning, especially the HVAC system.
• Be Observant.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Random Thoughts on Commercial Real Estate

My wife had to be in Honolulu for business for a couple of days, so I went along to "drive the car and carry the bags". I know it's a "tough" life, but someone had to do it.

However, I did take the opportunity to take a look at commercial real estate on Oahu while I was there.


Here are a couple of random thoughts.

• There's not a glut of commercial buildings because there hasn't been rampant building in Honolulu. I thought it was because of the amount of land available, but while it's a contributing factor, it's not the only one. The cost of bringing in the steel for the building is probably the major factor.
• There is actually quite a bit of land outside of Honolulu, but the roads and freeways (plus the tourists like myself who don't know where they are going) make it quite difficult to get anywhere quickly. The freeways in and around Honolulu are quite antiquated plus there are more "one ways" streets than I could imagine. There are actually traffic jams in paradise.
• The general consensus of the people I spoke with is that tourism is down 20 - 25% and it's going to be a tough 2 years. Of course, this means that there will probably be more retail spaces available for lease soon. However, Nordstroms just opened a huge store in the Ala Moana Shopping Center and they continue to build more condos.
• It doesn't appear that there's much of a zoning ordinance in Honolulu. There is some areas with a very interesting mix of buildings, businesses and homes.
• I wonder what the parking ratios are for strip centers. It was amazing how few spaces and how crammed together they were on some of the older strip centers.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Commercial Real Estate Markets Most Likely to Rebound

I recently saw an article on Forbes.com regarding the commercial real estate markets most likely to rebound.

The Urban Land Institute recently asked 700 real estate professionals to name the best and worst places to invest in commercial real estate in the next year.

At the top of the list were Seattle, San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York and Los Angeles.

At the bottom were Detroit, New Orleans, Columbus, Milwaukee and Cleveland.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

CCIM CI 101 Class in Pleasanton - Dec 1 - 5, 2008

Okay, here's another plug for CCIM and it's educational program.

This is the flagship course for CCIM. It's being offered in Pleasanton (which should reduces the travel expenses) from December 1 - 5, 2008 at the CarrAmerica Conference Center (I took all of my classes here and it's a nice set up).

CI 101 offers an array of financial analysis concepts and calculations to help you make sound commercial real estate investment decisions. (It is also the prerequisite for all of the other CI courses, so you need to take it first.)

You will learn the fundamentals of profitable investing and apply these concepts to commercial properties. Advanced analyses covered throughout the course include real estate cash flow model and time value of money.

In addition, you'll learn how to accurately measure investment value and performance of a given property. (Plus you'll have a opportunity to network with other commercial real estate professionals.) CCIM courses are consistently rated as the most valuable commercial eduction in the industry.

Please click on the title for more information and to register.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Random Thoughts on SV Commercial Real Estate

I picked up this week's Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal this weekend and was leafing through it when I came across this article by Katherine Conrad titled " Tight credit brings big drop-off in commercial real estate sales". (How's that for a depressing way to start the weekend.) Click on the title to go to the compete article.


I know it's nothing new and that many of us have been saying the same thing for the past couple of months, but just seeing it in print, kind of brings it home.


I don't that it's completely dried up. There's probably still money out there, but it's going back to relationships. Like Trevor Thorpe, managing director with CBRE's Walnut Creek office said at the end of the article, "If an investor has a solid relationship and a long history, they can get credit."


Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

EnergyStar Portfolio Manger

Here's another cool website/tool that I picked up at the "Green Boot Camp" put on by BB&T - Tanner Insurance Services last week.

We're all probably familiar with EnergyStar (since it plastered all over those new appliances) and some of you may be familiar with the EnergyStar website, but the Portfolio Manager tool is kind of buried in the website

"Portfolio Manager is an interactive energy management tool that allows you to track and assess energy and water consumption across your entire portfolio of buildings in a secure online environment. Whether you own, manage, or hold properties for investment, Portfolio Manager can help you set investment priorities, identify under-performing buildings, verify efficiency improvements, and receive EPA recognition for superior energy performance." (Now if only, I had a portfolio of buildings to use it on. LOL)

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

DSIRE - Database of State Incentives of Renewables & Efficiency

Last week I attended a "Green Boot Camp, Breakfast & The Basics" seminar (BTW both the seminar and the breakfast were outstanding) put on by BB&T - Tanner Insurance Services in Pleasanton.

One of the websites presented by one of the speakers that really caught my attention was DSIRE.

DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. (While we all want to do what right, having some incentives always help.) Click on the title to go to the website.

There is also a Glossary of Programs & Policies, a Link to various organizations and a Library of reports, papers and presentations on the website.

The Glossary provides a description of the programs and policies that promote renewable energy and/or energy efficiency. They are divided into two general categories -- (1) Financial Incentives and (2) Rules, Regulations & Policies -- and roughly 30 specific categories.

The Links go to numerous National, State, Regional and International Organizations as well as Federal Resources.

The Library features reports, technical papers, and presentations authored by DSIRE staff from 1997 to the present. Publications related to the DSIRE project co-authored with renewable energy colleagues in academia, government, and private practice are also included

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Sunnyvale Town Center - Update

In an earlier post, I wrote about the progress that was being made on the Sunnyvale Town Center project.

Some questions came up regarding when the residential units would be available and where they would be located. I addressed these questions to Connie Verceles, Business Development Manger for the City of Sunnyvale.

Connie replied that the developer has not given the City a firm date as to when the housing would be available. The developers are approved for housing on McKinley, Washington and Iowa Avenues. She also mentioned that they are taking names for the waiting list.

Here's a link to their website: http://www.svterraces.com/splash/

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

When Is the Commercial Real Estate Market Going to Turnaround

Whenever I tell people that I'm in Commercial Real Estate, the questions that always comes up are "what's happening with the Commercial Real Estate market"and "when is it going to turnaround". (I'm sure that the Residential Agents get the same types of questions.)

Here's an extract from an interesting article by Randy Drummer that I received from the CoStar Group that gives one projection. Click on the Title to get the full article. (I would tend to agree with the article, but then, I'm trying to be an optimistic.)


Frozen By Fear: Forecasters Say Real Estate Likely to Hit Bottom in ’09

Moderate Development During Last Boom May Help Markets Avoid Deep V-Shaped Downturn. But Navigating Financial Meltdown May Prove Increasingly Tricky

Economics -- the dismal science -- earns its nickname during real estate down cycles. And following the shock of seeing Wall Street all but implode, it should not be surprising that the first round of forecasts for next year paints a fairly gloomy picture for commercial real estate -- though studious observers (especially those with ample cash for distressed property opportunities) may find a silver lining or two. (There's still hope if you have cash.)

U.S. commercial real estate is facing the prospect of its worst year since the depression of 1991-1992, with property values expected to plunge, foreclosures/delinquencies rise sharply, and a limping economy likely to put a crimp in property cash flows, according to the 2009 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report released Tuesday by the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Total expected returns on private equity real estate investments will likely drop into negative territory for the first time in nearly two decades as the market hits bottom next year. A weak recovery is expected to begin in 2010.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Random Thoughts on SV Commercial Real Estate

Is it just me or does it seem that the retail sector (both Sales and Leasing) has really slowed down, not only in Silicon Valley, but across the nation?

It just seems in the last couple of weeks that:

1. I'm getting a lot more emails/e-flyers for retail properties for lease,
2. I'm getting a lot more emails/e-flyers for retail based single tenant net lease properties for sale, and
3. I'm seeing cap rate creep on the net lease properties, even in California.

Maybe it's just the ease of sending out this information or maybe the retail sector is finally starting to slow.

Any thoughts?

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

CCIM - Silicon Valley District Meeting: Nov 19, 2008

Here's another plug for the CCIM - Silicon Valley District.

The next CCIM Silicon Valley meeting will be on Wednesday, November 19th at the UCSC Extension campus in Sunnyvale (1180 Bordeaux Drive). The meeting will run from 8:30 - 10:30 AM with networking from 8:30 - 9:00 AM.

Please note that because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the meeting will be held a week earlier and on a Wednesday instead of the normal Tuesday. (As always there should be coffee, muffins and pastries, but no turkey.)

The speakers will be:

Nanci Klein from San Jose Economic Development. Nanci will be speaking about the future growth of San Jose including “Envision 2040” which is the general plan update currently underway. She will also talk about all the exciting development going on in downtown and north San Jose.

Jeff Birdwell from Sares Regis. The Sares Regis Group is one of the largest most diversified real estate companies in the Western United States. They develop, acquire, build and manage a variety of commercial properties. Jeff will speak about leasing and development trends, construction costs, challenges encountered in the development process and working with different cities (why some are easier to work with than others). He will also address the financing environment for new projects and his vision for the future of Bay Area projects.

Comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Investment Exchange Counselors Meeting, October 21, 2008

Here's a meeting that I try (and the operative word is "try") to attend. There's a lot of commercial real estate experience at this meeting and a major focus on property offerings.

Investment Exchange Counselors
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 @ 9:00 AM
First American Title
1737 North First Street
1st Floor
San Jose, CA 95112
Hosted: First American Title & First American Exchange

The speaker is Robert Meyer, CCIM with Exchange Solutions.

Robert consults on tax-advantaged real estate investment strategies for appreciated real estate. He specializes in 1031 tax deferred exchanges, TIC Investments and single tenant net leased properties.

(I've heard Robert speak before. I think that you'll find him interesting, engaging and very knowledgeable.)

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Is It Time to Buy Commercial Property?

This question has probably been on the minds of everyone involved with commercial real estate. (If you're looking for the magic answer from me, you're not going to find it here.)

However, there are some interesting things happening.

There was an article in the Oct 10 issue of Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal by Katherine Conrad titled "$115M loan has Berg shopping". The article goes on to say that Carl Berg, chairman and CEO of Mission West, has borrowed $115M in order to buy distressed properties because he thinks that "There's opportunity out there."

Here's a link to the complete article. http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/10/13/story2.html

Apparently, some of the "Vulture" funds have started gearing up, waiting for that major market correction, so that they can swoop in and pick up those bargains.

So the question is, do you follow the "smart money"? (Of course, it always helps to have some money to swoop in with.)

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

San Jose's Green Vision 2

Yesterday's post was in regards to San Jose's Green Vision. I came across an article on the progress that San Jose has made in a local paper, The Almaden Times. I've summarized it below.

1. Create 25,000 Clean Tech jobs as the World Center of Clean Tech Innovation
   In the past 12 months, the City has increased Clean Tech jobs by more than 1,500.
   
2. Reduce per capita energy use by 50 percent
   2008 figures are not yet available. The City has reduced operational usage by 21%.
   
3. Receive 100 percent of our electrical power from clean renewable sources
   Since Oct 2007, solar systems have been installed @ eBay and various schools in the San Jose Unified School District. (Check out Leland High School's parking lot.)
   
4. Build or retrofit 50 million square feet of green buildings
   In the past 12 months, the City has added 159K sf.
   
5. Divert 100 percent of the waste from our landfill and convert waste to energy
   The City is currently recycling 75% of municipal waste.
   
6. Recycle or beneficially reuse 100 percent of our wastewater (100 million gallons per day)
   The City is currently recycling or reusing 10% of wastewater.
   
7. Adopt a General Plan with measurable standards for sustainable development
   The City is in the middle of updating it's General Plan.
   
8. Ensure that 100 percent of public fleet vehicles run on alternative fuels
   In 2007, 1,000 of the City's 2,700 vehicles were using alternative fuels.
   
9. Plant 100,000 new trees and replace 100 percent of our streetlights with smart, zero-emission lighting
   In the past 12 months, the City has planted over 2,000 new trees. They are currently studying its ability to replace the street lights.
   
10. Create 100 miles of interconnected trails
    The City has increased its trails to 51, some of which are interconnected.

So, you can see that the City is making very good progress on their Green Vision.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

San Jose's Green Vision

As I was driving in last week, listening to KLIV (another shameless plug for the local radio station), I caught something about Mayor Reed's Green Vision for San Jose. I didn't catch all of it and I wanted to know more, so I "googled" it (I guess I can probably drop the quotation marks).

Here they are. (If you click on the title, you can get the complete PDF file.)


Green Vision Goals
Within 15 years, the City of San José in tandem with its residents and businesses will:

1. Create 25,000 Clean Tech jobs as the World Center of Clean Tech Innovation
2. Reduce per capita energy use by 50 percent
3. Receive 100 percent of our electrical power from clean renewable sources
4. Build or retrofit 50 million square feet of green buildings
5. Divert 100 percent of the waste from our landfill and convert waste to energy
6. Recycle or beneficially reuse 100 percent of our wastewater (100 million gallons per day)
7. Adopt a General Plan with measurable standards for sustainable development
8. Ensure that 100 percent of public fleet vehicles run on alternative fuels
9. Plant 100,000 new trees and replace 100 percent of our streetlights with smart, zero-emission lighting
10. Create 100 miles of interconnected trails

Pretty cool goals, huh. And I understand that they are making good progress on them. I'll give an update on their progress later in the week.

Your comments are appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Random Thoughts on SV Commercial Real Estate

Just some random thoughts from the NCal CCIM and Bay Area Apartment Brokers Forum meetings that I attended this week.

There are still commercial lenders lending, at least that's what they are saying. They may require good credit and a fairly high LTV (here's a radical concept, having some "skin" in the game). However, the interest rates are pretty good.

It seems that business is slowing down. (I don't have any actual data. It's just a feeling that I'm getting as I listen to the marketing presentations at these meetings.) There use to be a lot more properties for sale presented. If I remember correctly, we use to have 5 -10 property presentations per meeting. There were probably only 5 or 6 properties presented in total at the 2 meetings and only half were new listings.

There seem to be less people at these meeting. (Again nothing scientific, just me looking around the rooms.) Maybe everybody is real busy (I don't think so) or it's the time of the year or they are cutting back on expenses or they're no longer in the business.

Your comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading.

San Jose Approves Green Building Standards for Commercial Real Estate Projects

As I was driving to the Bay Area Apartment Brokers Forum this morning, I heard on KLIV that San Jose had approved "Green" Building Standards for Commercial Projects. (Here's a plug for KLIV. I listen to them when I want to know what's going on in Silicon Valley and, especially, when I'm driving in SV. They have the best traffic reports focusing on SV traffic.)

I just caught the highlights (or lowlights depending on where you stand), but you should be able to find more detail on either KLIV or the SJ Mercury website.

1. Commercial Projects greater than 25,000 sf must meet LEED Silver certification.
2. Residential projects of 10 or more units would have to be LEED certified or have a minimum of 50 points on the Build It Green's GreenPoint Rated system.

So, San Jose continues to move toward being "Green".

What Do You Consider Silicon Valley?

According to Silicon Valley Index 2008 (the Index is published by the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation), the Core of Silicon Valley is defined as the following cities:

Santa Clara County (all)
Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale

Alameda County
Fremont, Newark, Union City

San Mateo County
Atherton, Belmont, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Carlos, San Mateo, Woodside

Santa Cruz County
Scotts Valley

Do you agree?

NCalCCIM Meeting - October 7

It's not too late (or it may be depending on when you read this post) to register for the October 7 Marketing, Mentoring and Luncheon Meeting. (Another plug for CCIM. Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Join us next Tuesday in Pleasanton for our monthly Mentoring, Marketing and Luncheon Meeting. Luncheon speaker is Attorney Maine Shafer and his topic is: Tax Strategies for the Commercial Real Estate Broker.

Many of us assume our accountants take care of our taxes... but forget that WE are the ones giving them the numbers and records they are using to prepare our tax return.This program is guaranteed to identify between $2,500 and $27,500 in NEW deductions that can be used right away to pocket thousands in tax savings. These deductions are based in tax LAW, but presented in simple English that all of us can easily understand. (That's good because I have an MBA in Finance and I still have a tough time understanding Tax Code.)

Mentoring session topics are: "Go Green, Save Green" and "Improving Sales with Dale Carnegie." Mentoring at 9:00, marketing at 10:30 and the luncheon begins at Noon.

To register or for more information, click on the title.

Bay Area Apartment Brokers Forum - October 8

Here's a meeting that I try to attend. Not only do they have interesting topics, good speakers and free food (just bagels and coffee, but it's free), but if you listen carefully, you can get a real good feel for what's happening in the multi-family market in Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area. It's an interesting mix of brokers, title folk and lenders and there is a lot of "experience" in the room.


Group: Bay Area Apartment Brokers Forum - Established 1986 - (22 Years)
Guest Speaker: Michael Thomas - Principal, Wheelhouse Real Estate Investment Brokerage
Topic: How Technology is Changing Real Estate
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - 8 AM
Place: First American Title Company, 1737 North First St., San Jose
Breakfast: Continental Breakfast - no charge - First American Title/Exchange
Chairman: Richard Domich - CB Richard Ellis
Vice Chairman: Keith Suddjian - Cornish & Carey
Membership: Kari Noomen - Washington Mutual
Sponsor: Mary Kay Kennedy - First American Exchange
Sponsor: Joe Campi - First American Title
Sponsor: Paul Monaco - First American Title

Note: All present will have an opportunity to present their listings, buyer requirements, as well as their analysis of current events and market trends that directly effect the multi-housing (apartment) industry in Silicon Valley and greater Bay Area.

Adjournment: 9:30 AM

Nov. 12, 2008 Ken Orvick - Apartment Management Issues 2008
Dec. 10, 2008 Robert Meyer - Tenant-In-Common Update - Proposed NAR Exemption

SV Joint Venture Sustainable Building Initiative Webpage & Launch

Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network has added a new Sustainable Building Initiative webpage to their site (Click on the title to go to it).

It's very nicely done and provides the reader with a very good idea of what the Sustainable Building Initiative is all about. (This is where the future is going whether we like it or not or to put it another way, this is where we have to go to have a future. I, for one, thought this whole "green" thing was just a "fad", but I've since changed my mind.)

If you're interested in learning more about the Sustainable Building Initiative, there is a Sustainable Building Initiative Launch (hosted by Kara LaPierre of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network) on October 30 at the Holiday Inn San Jose. You can register online for the meeting on the webpage. (I don't know if there's going to be food, but it's only $20, so I'm planning on attending.)

Sacramento and Commercial Real Estate

I happened to be in Sacramento on Friday visiting a client and Saturday visiting family. Here are some random thoughts (and I do mean random) on Sacramento and the Sacramento Commercial Real Estate Market.

Sacramento is huge! I went from Esparto (which is out by Woodland/Davis) to Loomis (which is out by Granite Bay) and it seemed like I was driving forever.

It seems like there's a lot of retail and office space for lease (not very scientific survey, just driving around) in the area. I didn't get a chance to go downtown, so I can't comment on how that area is doing.

It also appears that retail development has slowed down, i..e, there wasn't a lot of work being done on many of the retail developments that had been started. (Again, just driving around.)

The afternoon commute traffic on Hwy 80 North on Friday is almost as bad as some of the afternoon commutes in Silicon Valley. People told me that it's all those people from the Valley going to Reno.

Since I happened to be in Esparto, I drove out to the Cache (or should it be Cash) Creek Casino in Capay. They actually did a very nice job on the design of the casino and it blends in very well with the surrounding hills. You can't even see the golf course from the road. The roads to the casino are very well taken care of, but I wouldn't want to be driving them late at night (Shades of Blood Alley in Morgan Hill).

Update on Sunnyvale Town Center & Onizuka Air Force Base

As I mentioned yesterday in my blog, we had two very informative speakers at the last Silicon Valley District CCIM meeting. Yesterday, I commented on Kara LaPierre's SVEDA presentation and I promised that I would talk about Connie Verceles' presentation today.

Connie Verceles is Economic Development Director for Sunnyvale. Connie provided an update on the changes going on within Sunnyvale. Specifically, she spoke about new Sunnyvale Town Center and Onizuka Air Force Base.

Sunnyvale Town Center is progressing nicely and they hope to have Phase I completed by Fall 2009. When the total project is completed, they are planning on over 1 million sf of retail, 200,000 sf of office and approximately 300 residential units in a huge mixed use development (shades of Santana Row). The layout of the Town Center is such that it will return a grid pattern to Downtown Sunnyvale.

One major change from the original plan was that the developers was granted the ability to rent half of the residential units for five years, so as not to flood the market. (If I remember correctly, Santana Row also did this during their development of their residential units and it seem to work out very well for them.)

Connie also touched on what was going on with the closure of Onizuka Air Force Base in 2011. They are looking at 1) Federal projects (since it is Federal land) 2) an Auto Mall and 3) High Density Office (Just what we need, more office space. Well, maybe things will pick up by 2012.) An interesting point was that it's only around 19 acres (I always thought that air force bases were larger).

Silicon Valley Economic Development Alliance (SVEDA)

We had two very informative speakers at yesterday's Silicon Valley District CCIM meeting (I know, I'm making another plug for CCIM. I told you I would.)


Kara LaPierre, Vice President, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Executive Director, SVEDA provided us with a Silicon Valley snapshot and an introduction to SVEDA. (If you missed it, I'm not going to give you a summary of the meeting, other than it was very informative.)


Here's a couple of cool things from the meeting.

Kara gave out copies of the "2008 Silicon Valley Index" (Free is good). The index is produced by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community and contains a lot of information ranging from the talent flow and diversity of Silicon Valley to what's going on in the environment. You might be able to get a copy by contacting them at info@jointventure.org or info@siliconvalleycf.org.

Here are two interesting websites that Kara gave out that I think you might want to check out.

http://www.siliconvalleyonline.org/ This is the home page of SVEDA and contains lots of information especially on the member cities plus it has a link to Silicon Valley Prospector.

http://www.businessownerspace.com/ This is San Jose/Silicon Valley's site for information on starting and running a small business. (Here's the perfect site to send those clients who think that they want to start their own business.)

I'll talk about Connie Verceles presentation tomorrow.

October NCalCCIM Luncheon Meeting

I'm a big advocate of CCIM (and not just because I'm a Designee. Well, maybe just a little.), especially the Northern California Chapter. I will always include information about their monthly meetings and other events, such as their classes in my blog.

If you're serious about commercial real estate, I think that you will find it worthwhile to attend their meetings as well as consider taking some of their classes. (Okay, time to get off of the soap box.)

The October NCalCCIM Luncheon Meeting with be held on October 7th at the Four Points Sheraton in Pleasanton. (Please click on the title for additional information and to register.)

There is a "Haves & Needs" marketing session from 10:30 - 11:30 with the luncheon meeting starting at 11:45 AM and running to around 1:30 PM.

The speaker will be Maine Shafer, J.D., of Bradford & Company who will be speaking about "Tax Strategies for the Commercial Real Estate Broker". (However, I would guess that this would probably be appropriate for most of us who are independent contractors.)

The Mentoring Session (which I always find interesting) topics are "Go Green, Save Green" and "Improving Sales with Dale Carnegie" (something at least I can use) will be from 9:00 - 10:30 AM.

Under Construction

How appropriate is that title for the start of my Commercial Real Estate blog?

I was going to call it "Silicon Valley Commercial Real Estate Muse" until I looked up the definition of "muse". Webster's defines muse as "a source of inspiration", so you can see why I changed it.