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).
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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).
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).
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
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 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.Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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.
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.
Monday, September 22, 2008
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.
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.
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