Oakland's Largest Landlord To Sell Over $1B In Office Assets
CIM Group has put five Oakland assets on the market worth over $1B. If sold, the 1.73M SF portfolio would be one of the largest sell-offs of a portfolio since Shorenstein Properties sold the five-building Oakland City Center in 2010 to CBRE Global Investors for $360M, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
CIM Group plans to sell the 530K SF Class-A office tower at 1 Kaiser Plaza, the 238K SF Class-A office tower at 1333 Broadway, the 272K SF Class-A office tower at 1901 Harrison St., the two-building complex at Center 21 near Lake Merritt and the 695-space parking garage at 2353 Webster St.
Oakland’s largest landlord originally purchased these five buildings for $412.5M through a deal with Brandywine Realty Trust in 2008.
After selling the portfolio, CIM Group will still have a large footprint in Oakland and is currently working on expanding Jack London Square with two residential buildings and a hotel. The company also acquired a fully entitled site at 1100 Clay St. and plans to build a 288-unit apartment building in March.
It also owns Uptown Station, which it bought from Uber last year for $180M. Renovations are expected to be completed at the 382K SF Uptown Station by the end of the year.
Oakland's office market has picked up within the last two years. Oakland’s central business district has one of the lowest vacancy rates of a downtown office market in the country at about 5.3%.
The East Bay city has attracted several well-known companies in recent years due to its cheaper rents than San Francisco and proximity to employees, many of whom live in the East Bay. Blue Shield, Delta Dental, Oracle and Arup have leased offices in the last two years in downtown Oakland.
Investors have been chomping at the bit for a piece of Oakland’s office market and many long-term investors have been facing aggressive buyers. California Capital & Investment Group CEO Phil Tagami previously told Bisnow that buyers are willing to pay three times as much as what CCIG paid for its buildings.
Developers have also been pushing forward plans to add more office to expand the market. The city is adding its first two office towers in over a decade, at 601 City Center and 1100 Broadway.
Lane Partners is working on a 1.57M SF Oakland office, larger than Salesforce Tower by square footage, in a partnership with Strategic Urban Development Alliance. Lane Partners also is renovating a 236K SF office at 2150 Webster St. that it bought in 2016.
