Meridian COO John Pollock is all smiles, here with wife Susan, because he just wrapped up construction of a 17k SF medical office building in San Rafael

. The big building challenge is it sat on a small, odd-shaped parcel with difficult topography, he says. Since the site couldn't support a 4/1,000 parking ratio, Meridian decided to purchase the neighboring historic Victorian triplex and reverted the triplex into a single-family home, which the firm was able to quickly sell. That changed the lot line to provide the additional land for the medical/office building parking. It's a "great example of what can be achieved with some out-of-the-box thinking," he says. DaVita Healthcare Partners will be the tenant.

John says Meridian has completed transactions totaling 400k SF (including acquisitions, leases and/or dispositions) in the last year, with another 250k SF in the pipeline. In Berkeley, its 15k SF medical office building just got City approval to continue as a medical facility. Construction on the exterior upgrades is expected to commence in August.