At Twenty Five Lusk for dinner the other night, we snapped Veritas Investments founder Yat-Pang Au, one of the largest institutional owners of apartment stock in SF. His approach, he tells us, is to own and operate classic buildings adapted to today's tenant taste for modern amenities and space plans. An example: Lombard Place, a Russian Hill trophy consisting of 105 units with 75 parking spaces spread across three towers and garage. Built in 1920 with bay windows and Edwardian-style flourishes, inside he's put not just the latest washers and dryers, but solar electricity. Oh, and his properties are SF's largest hoster of Zipcars.
Is there an asset class, or outdoor sport, First American TitlesBruce Carlsonhasnt done? At Credo for lunch, we snapped Bruce, a native ofLafayetteandTomales Bay, whogrew up sailing, windsurfing, and fishing for salmon and striped bass. After UCLA, he came back to the Bay Area and didindustrialat Cushman forNorthface, CostPlus, and Sears, then went to CBRE and was asked by those clients to start doingretail, too. With two partners, he started a development company called Radius that did shopping centers, industrial, and mixed use; went to Legacy to do multifamily; ran the retail group atGrubb & Ellis; and two years ago started atFirst American. Now living in Marin with three kids, one thing has stayed the same: He still loves to hike (around Mt. Tam), cycle (on his Trek Madone), paddleboard, and above all fly fish(Mount Lassen, Montana, Wyoming, Mexico, or Alaska).
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