This Week's Bay Area Deal Sheet
Once a dumping ground for ballast on the San Francisco Bay, Mission Rock has come a long way from its humble beginnings. In late April, Mission Rock Partners started leasing apartments at Verde, a 23-story tower on the Mission Rock site at 1070 Bridgeway in China Basin.
Verde is part of a 2.7M SF mixed-use waterfront development being built by Mission Rock Partners, a venture of the San Francisco Giants, Tishman Speyer and the Port of San Francisco. Designed by architecture firm Studio Gang, the 287K SF Verde has 254 market-rate units, ground-floor retail and 25K SF of coworking space operated by Tishman’s Studio.
Mission Rock also includes Visa’s 303K SF global HQ, a 283-unit apartment tower, lab ready commercial space to lure life sciences and biotech tenants, and a 283-unit apartment tower called the Canyon, where 40% of the residences are below market rate, targeting middle-income families.
The development also includes the 5-acre China Basin Park, which opened April 25. A key portion of the Bay Trail runs through the park, connecting the revitalized southeastern waterfront to a 350-mile network of trails and open spaces, as well as to downtown and SoMa.
In 2015, San Francisco voters approved Mission Rock’s development by authorizing Proposition D, which increased building height limits on the site to between 190 and 240 feet.
SALES
An Alabama investor, Harbert Management Corp., purchased a 122-unit apartment complex in Fremont for $35.8M from San Francisco-based Priya Living, according to the San Francisco Business Times. The 10-building complex at 39867 Fremont Blvd. contains a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, a clubhouse, pool and laundry on-site.
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Walker & Dunlop arranged a $125M refi for a 320-unit apartment complex at Station 16 Apartments at 126 N. Rollins Road in Millbrae. Mark Plenge and Grant Robertson on the W&D Capital Markets team sourced the refinancing from Argentic Investment Management for Republic Urban Properties.
The interest-only, floating-rate, nonrecourse loan will enable the borrower to pay off existing construction debt, finish lease-up, including ground-floor retail space, and provide cash flow "while the market recovers," according to a press release.
The 13,600 SF Station 16 is part of the Gateway at Millbrae Station master-planned development at the Millbrae BART and Caltrain stations.
LEASING
Artificial intelligence firm Replit will split from San Francisco. Sources have reported the $1.2B firm will relocate from 677 Harrison St. in SoMa to 48K SF at 1001 E. Hillside Blvd. in Foster City, citing crime and dysfunction. According to The Real Deal, Cody Kollman of Lee & Associates repped Replit in the transaction at the eight-story Parkside Towers complex. TRD called 677 Harrison St. a brick-and-timber live-work loft encompassing 5,700 SF.
PERSONNEL
Tom Jansen has been promoted to regional vice president for Ware Malcomb’s Northwest Region. In this role, he will lead the firm's Pleasanton, San Francisco and Seattle offices. He will also work to expand the firm’s civil engineering practice. Jansen also became a member of the firm's executive team with more than 25 years of design expertise. Before joining the firm in 2016, he ran a Denver-based engineering firm.
