News
ROWING PAINS
March 15, 2012
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| Large office sales seem to have tapered off lately, so this one really caught our attention: Informatica Corp, a leading provider of data integration software, bought 290k SF of office space at Pacific Shores in Redwood City for $149M. Yesterday we chatted with Jeff Birdwell, president of commercial development for Sares Regis Group of Northern California, which identified and acquired a new HQ for Informatica; it'll relocate out of leased space elsewhere in Redwood City in late 2013. He tells us one of the deal’s most important elements is that the site has the potential to expand beyond the existing square footage. Jeff had helped seller Starwood Capital Partners secure a General Plan amendment that allows up to an additional 200k SF. Cornish & Carey’s Douglas Sugimoto, Joe Hamilton, and Ben Stern repped the buyer. |
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| Jeff tells us they evaluated 10 alternatives, from existing building acquisition to ground-up development before deciding on the Pacific Shores buildings (2000 & 2100 Seaport Blvd). The building measured well using the cost per employee metric. Interestingly, Informatica previously occupied the site and still had one lease on a building that it sublet to other tenants. In the past 10 years, SRGNG has done about 4M SF of corporate development, one of the commercial division’s core competencies. Outside of work, Jeff’s passion is to race rowing shells—he’s rowed more than 4,000 miles in the inland waters of the San Francisco Bay and also helped grow the Bair Island Aquatic Center, a nonprofit that enables community access to the water. In addition, he organized an annual rowing shell race between Redwood City’s City Council and planning commission. The winner gets the Golden Oar, a perpetual trophy, “which I created in my garage.” |
