North Bay commercial real estate developments reshaping the local world of work
As the following compilation of commercial real estate projects around the North Bay suggests, industrial buildings are a hot item among developers, particularly for distribution and fulfillment related to e-commerce.
But this year's compilation of commercial developments also has a newcomer to the North Bay: sizable transit-oriented development along the expanding Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit line.
Napa Logistics Park
Middleton Way, American CanyonNapaLogisticsPark.com
Size: 2.9 million square feet at buildout on 218 acres
Developers: DivcoWest and Orchard Partners
Website:
Leasing: Brooks Pedder, Jeff Starkovich and Benjamin Conwell of Cushman & Wakefield
The North Bay's biggest single warehouse project is poised to send more buildings vertical. Site work began recently for over 1 million square feet in two more structures.
When the 362,000- and 702,000-square-foot concrete tilt-up cross-loading buildings are completed, tentatively set for late next year, they will have clear heights of 40 feet.
Taller racking for inventory and faster throughput is calling for upgrades in equipment and layout, such as forklifts with higher reach and sometimes mezzanine decking, according to leasing agent Brooks Pedder in Cushman & Wakefield's Walnut Creek office.
The first building in the project, with 644,000 square feet at 1 Middleton Way, was leased last year to Europe-based home décor retailer Ikea as part of its new focus on e-commerce. An investment group recently purchased the building.
Interstate 80 Logistics Center
2200 Courage Drive, FairfieldInterstate80LogisticsCenter.com
Size: 380,000 square feet on 19.6 acres
Developers: Ridgeline Property Group and USAA Real Estate
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Leasing: Glen Dowling, Chris Neeb and Matt Bracco of Jones Lang LaSalle
Site work started earlier this month at the project site fronting on Highway 12 in Solano Business Park a mile from Interstate 80. Completion is scheduled for summer 2019.
The building is designed with 36-foot clear height (vertical space for racks), 7-inch-thick reinforced concrete slab, cross-dock capability, 69 truck dock-high doors, four drive-in doors, 31 dedicated trailer parking spaces and 192 spaces for automobiles. Column spacing in the class A warehouse is set to be 56 feet by 60 feet, and the “speed bay” for staging loads on trucks is 60 feet deep.
In addition to the higher clear distance that's becoming more common with new warehouses, particularly those marketed to more automated operations, is 4,000 amps of power to be staged at the facility, said Steve Arthur, a Ridgeline principal.
Ridgeline currently has over 8 million square feet of development projects underway nationwide, including new projects in Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Atlanta. USAA Real Estate has been involved in other big Solano properties, including the sale of a 1.02 million-square-foot warehouse in Fairfield in 2016 and the $33 million purchase of 607,000-square-foot Fairfield warehouse in 2011.
Victory Station
22801 Eighth St. E., SonomaVSSonoma.com
Site: 250,000 square feet on 19.2 acres
Developers: VSP LLC and Washington Capital Management
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Leasing: Steven Leonard and Brian Foster of Cushman & Wakefield
En route for more than a decade, the commercial project at the corner of the Eighth Street East wine logistics corridor and Highway 121 pulling up to its destination. Called Victory Station, the 250,000-square-foot concrete-tilt-up warehouse project is set for completion in early November, according to principal Jose McNeill III, a veteran of large North Bay industrial projects. Warehouse clear height is 26 feet.
“As always with a big building, you have to look at how many full-building users you're talking to and how many small tenants, then decide if you are going to stay with a big tenant or break it up,” McNeill said. “We're talking to distribution and wine groups.”
Recent projects by McNeill Real Estate Services include Greenwood Business Park in south Napa and Cader Corporate Center in Petaluma, done with New York Life Real Estate and a Northern California construction trade union fund.
McNeill also assembled investors to purchase a 65,000-square-foot former Next Level Communications office and industrial building in Rohnert Park in September, and the building has become 90 percent full.
Currently, McNeill is negotiating to buy land near Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport that would accommodate several hundred thousand square feet of industrial buildings.
Billa Landing
North Laughlin Road and Copperhill Parkway, Santa Rosa
Size: 380,000 square feet
Developer: Billa Management
Leasing: Dave Peterson and Danny Jones of Keegan & Coppin Co. Inc./Oncor International
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