Big News At China Basin
McCarthy Cook's China Basin complex in Mission Bay, currently 99% leased, is going to have multiple leasing opportunities in 2015, ranging in size from 2k SF to 46k SF (totaling 156k SF). Here's why.
The firm's Richard Hayes (here with the family of Giants' World Series Championship trophies) says a number of tenants are downsizing and/or moving to different parts of town. The biggest is CoStar, which is vacating its 46k SF space and shrinking to 25k SF at 101 Cal, trading prime waterfront views to be in the heart of the Financial District. The open creative workspace they are leaving behind is "pretty much ready to go" for a new tech tenant, he says. On the second floor, three suites totaling 40k SF are coming online, thanks to exits from UCSF and two smaller tenants. Pros: unbeatable water views of McCovey Cove and the Bay, 13' ceilings slab-to-slab, and ready for TIs in August.
BCCI is another downsizing tenant. The commercial builder is saying goodbye to its home of 12 years (21k SF on the ground floor) for a recently signed 18k SF deal at Levi's Plaza, citing less expensive digs as the reason. Both UCSF, a medical records group moving to Emeryville, and BCCI don't need to be at the end of the Caltrain line and paying China Basin's premium prices, he points out.
The State of California Courts, also desiring more economical rents, is leaving behind a 25k SF opportunity (already in leases with an expanding credit tenant) in the Berry Building. China Basin is made up of the six-story Wharfside Building and five-story Berry Building, connected by a landscaped, open-air courtyard. Above, a recent aerial shot. Living across the street from the World Series champs doesn't come cheap. Richard hates to see some of these tenants go but it's a sign of the times, he says, relative to the increase in rents from the bottom of the market in 2010. That low $30/SF price tag has since surged 166%. He's got deals in the pipeline that are approaching $85 full service, he says.
One big anchor is staying put, Richard says. Dropbox, which will occupy the new 300k SF Brannan complex when it comes online later next year, expanded earlier this year by 110k SF in the Wharfside Building. Dropbox is scooping up most of the space vacated by UCSF. He says Dropbox will retain a 215k SF footprint at China Basin. (Their offices, above.)
