Why Pleasanton is Popping

Why is this pleasant-sounding town drawing so much more attention that just two years ago? (And to keep up, will San Francisco consider a name change to Delightfulville?) We just got the exclusive on the sales prices for two big trades.

Two Pleasanton office/R&D buildings totaling 105k SF traded to Embarcadero Capital Partners for $18.8M, or $180/SF, sources tell us. Some other area projects have closed over $200/SF (for example, this year, San Ramon Regional Medical Center and John Muir Health bought an Owens Drive building). The nearly seven-acre site at 5758-5794 W. Las Positas Blvd (pictured) is fully leased to Hewlett-Packard and Gatan. HFF repped the seller, a JV between Cannae Partners and certain affiliates of Westport Capital Partners LLC. The buyer, a real estate investment and management firm based on the S.F. peninsula, bought the assets free and clear of existing financing.

We also learned the 1M SF California Center campus in Pleasanton sold to Swift Real Estate Partners in a deal brokered by JLL in a very competitive bidding process (the seller was a global investment manager). Sources say the deal closed at $155/SF. What did Swift get? Six office buildings, a top-notch conference center, 600-seat cafeteria, fitness center, and an 8.4 acre site that is fully entitled for 305 residential units. Why Pleasanton? Why not? A large concentration of folks in IT and hardware live there and Livermore. Housing is cheaper than most of the Bay Area. The name says it all, too; the weather is nice, no fog, and there's a lower cost of living (remind us why we live in the city again? The Sunset is so misleading). Expect to see additional Pleasanton deals close in the next couple weeks, sources say.