Read the full article on the ConnectCRE

Barker Pacific Group (BPG) has signed diversified financial firm Raymond James & Associates Inc. to a lease totaling 19,721 square feet at 301 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena. Raymond James renewed its 8,873-square-foot lease and added a 10,848-square-foot lease.

The expanded lease includes exterior signage to indicate the building as a Raymond James regional headquarters. Raymond James was represented by Jon Winnek of Cushman & Wakefield.

Scott Unger of Kidder Matthews manages the leasing effort for 301 N. Lake Ave., a 227,019-square-foot class A office building owned and managed by BPG. With the new leases, 301 N. Lake Ave. is 84% occupied. 

Read the full article on the San Francisco Business Times

Don’t be fooled by the opulence, the Dom Perignon, the caviar, the instantly obvious appeal to the venture capital firm tenants on the floors above, and expectations of how packed it will be when the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference comes to town in January.

Phil Spiegel says his restaurant, Holbrook House, opening next week at the One Sansome Conservatory, isn’t just another host spot for a high-powered business lunch (which the neighborhood already has plenty of). It’s a place with finesse, for sure, but more importantly, he said, he’s hoping it will add a little something that San Francisco’s downtown lacks a little bit compared with Las Vegas or Nashville or San Diego: fun.

“People downtown work in suits and work in hoodies,” Spiegel said over a seemingly endless sampling of a day’s worth of courses and dessert, which nevertheless lived up to the menu’s guiding principle, ‘craveability.’ “Let’s be authentic.”

Whether the big bet will pay off for Spiegel and his landlord, Barker Pacific Group may come down less to the people eyeing the top-shelf $25 martinis than those intrigued by the $8 Modelo — 24 oz., served in a can plunged into a bucket of crushed ice and rolled up table side in a cart — and the office workers of all stripes willing to incorporate the grab-and-go kiosk, the regular breakfast, lunch or after-work drink here into their routines.

Modelo is on the menu in part due to a superstition-turned-tradition on Spiegel's softball team, but it's also the sort of nod and wink that Holbrook House hopes to embody: Catering to a range of tastes, aiming for high standards of service without taking itself too seriously. Hoodies are just fine here.

Hours will be Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to midnight (coffee starts at 7:30 a.m, and cocktail service runs 8:00 p.m. to midnight). The restaurant seats 60 indoors, 24 at the bar and 40 at the semi-outdoor patio tables in the open-air atrium.

These days Holbrook House (kind of like downtown San Francisco, in general) can’t afford to put on exclusive airs. It will need to be accessible and drive daily volume to remain a success beyond the first few years of runway from its generous, percentage-weighted rent agreement with building manager Barker Pacific Group.

Spiegel, via his hospitality management firm Please FiDi and its veteran operations crew, wants to position the restaurant as a special draw for future office tenants to schmooze with clients while also part of a “hospitality concierge” program — also involving service from nearby restaurants — for tenants’ use across their offices and the conference rooms, private dining areas, tenant lounges and The Conservatory itself.

That amenity’s special smartphone app for tenants is nearly finished and the goal is to roll out the service likely sometime in October.

Spiegel also mentioned the building’s owner, PGIM, and the involvement of Newmark — which manages many buildings — as both a building tenant and the leasing agent looking to solve the building’s current occupancy of roughly 68%.

“I’m trying to sell food and beverage and hospitality that’s worthy of being in San Francisco, and the real estate people are trying to get people to lease space and get back in the office,” he explained. “So the marriage of the two at this moment seems very logical.”

There's a lot riding on the success of this hospitality venue, as the visual centerpiece of a roughly $25 million upgrade for the 42-story building. Also as the first big splash for Spiegel since leaving behind his role as Clint Reilly’s hospitality operations czar at the Julia Morgan Ballroom, Merchants Exchange Club and Credo Restaurant — bringing capital raised from friends, hard-won lessons in leadership, and some of his most trusted lieutenants, such as Vicki Tom (Director of Operations) and Lillian Phan (Director of Events and Partnerships).

The restaurant is sold out for its opening day on Wednesday, Sept. 6, but reservations are open (and Spiegel hinted, coyly, at surprises in store) for the rest of the debut week.

Holbrook House’s Chef Holly Stevens leads the kitchen and elevated American menu. She hails originally from San Francisco and the California Culinary Academy and has had a hand in the kitchens at Bar Agricole and Delfina; Michelin-starred spots Aziza and the Michael Mina restaurant group; along with Trou Normand. More than you’d expect — from the (English muffin-style) buns of the half-pork, half-beef burger to the ice cream in the dessert sundae — is made in house and for what it’s worth passed my test for quality.

The nearly 16,000-square-foot atrium adjoining the restaurant can accommodate up to 2,000 guests and is slated to host live music and special events on select days but for the most part will be open to the public. The venue, along with the ultra-flexible space arrangements of the North Lobby — capable of a 356 guest reception, or 160-seated dining, or a handful of private meeting rooms — are fully booked out for the first day of Dreamforce on Sept. 12.

The restaurant is the first commercial hospitality project from designer Jeff Schlarb, known for his master interior home arrangements for the Bay Area’s mega-rich, and there's plenty of details to admire in the mix of retro and modern sensibilities.

Overall, my impression of the restaurant's service and concept is that it’s not so much like the Sho Club in Salesforce Park — another splashy downtown investment, surrounded by public land, with a creative (if curious) concept in NFT-based membership — where exclusivity is kind of the point. Spiegel likened the vibe at Holbrook House before to a “private club without the membership fee." To this end I’ll say there are some easter eggs woven into the service that will reward the careful eye and the return customer.

Written by Alex Barreira - Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times

ABOUT BARKER PACIFIC GROUP
Barker Pacific Group (BPG) was founded more than 39 years ago and is comprised of experienced real estate professionals active in asset management, acquisitions, and development of major commercial projects. BPG developed 100 First Plaza in San Francisco and also owns and manages One Sansome Street in San Francisco. Some of the firm’s other notable projects include Hamilton Landing and Rowland Plaza in Marin County; The Fine Arts Building, 626 Wilshire Blvd., and 5055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles; 101 Continental in El Segundo, Calif.; City Square in Phoenix; and Tower 300 in Las Vegas. Additionally, BPG manages Storage Solutions, a growing leader in the self-storage industry, offering consumers and businesses a variety of self-storage space and supplies throughout California.

BPG also has self-storage facilities in Arizona. BPG has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. The company specializes in developing and acquiring institutional quality office, retail, and residential projects in select U.S. cities.

Read the full article on the The San Francisco Standard

One of the most historic spaces in Downtown San Francisco will soon have an ultra-luxe tenant with capacity for as many as 2,000 guests, when restaurant and events venue Holbrook House takes up residence in early September.

A liquor license application, along with a caterer permit, issued this week confirmed that Philip Spiegel, who has previously worked with the Julia Morgan Ballroom and the Merchants Exchange Club, is attached to the project at 1 Sansome St. Holbrook House was a historic structure on the same site.

Early images, including the website, reveal an upscale interior whose marbly vibe evokes an early 20th-century Parisian train station with jungle accents. In a neighborhood staking its economic recovery on culture and nightlife, Holbrook House’s debut is likely to make a splash.

Strictly speaking, the address 1 Sansome St. is two adjacent buildings. One is a 550-foot skyscraper built in the 1980s known as the Citigroup Center that houses corporate offices and consulates, while the other is the much older Anglo and London Paris National Bank, an ornate 1910 structure with Doric columns and the Conservatory at One Sansome, a beautiful light court that serves as an atrium.

The Conservatory at One Sansome, which has often had palm trees in it, is also one of San Francisco’s privately owned public open spaces, or POPOs—and Holbrook House will spill into it when the venue opens Sept. 6.

A 2022 San Francisco Chronicle article teased the project, with Spiegel calling it an alternative to the neighborhood’s hotels—a Gatsby-esque destination where people drink martinis and champagne. In addition to being luxurious, Holbrook House is centrally located, situated above the Montgomery BART Station and just off Market Street.

Written by Astrid Kane

ABOUT BARKER PACIFIC GROUP
Barker Pacific Group (BPG) was founded more than 39 years ago and is comprised of experienced real estate professionals active in asset management, acquisitions, and development of major commercial projects. BPG developed 100 First Plaza in San Francisco and also owns and manages One Sansome Street in San Francisco. Some of the firm’s other notable projects include Hamilton Landing and Rowland Plaza in Marin County; The Fine Arts Building, 626 Wilshire Blvd., and 5055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles; 101 Continental in El Segundo, Calif.; City Square in Phoenix; and Tower 300 in Las Vegas. Additionally, BPG manages Storage Solutions, a growing leader in the self-storage industry, offering consumers and businesses a variety of self-storage space and supplies throughout California.

BPG also has self-storage facilities in Arizona. BPG has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. The company specializes in developing and acquiring institutional quality office, retail, and residential projects in select U.S. cities.

Read the full article on the SF Chronicle

Urban public spaces can’t be judged just by how they look. They’re most important as acts of social engineering, sending messages in terms of who is welcome and who is not.

Which is why I have such conflicted feelings about the makeover of the large, triangular plaza outside the 48-story 101 California office tower — a redo that’s a pale sequel of its predecessor in design terms, but excels as a comfortable and varied place to be.

That’s crucial in a summer where the health of downtown San Francisco is being scrutinized by people and pundits around the world. The transformation of 101 California and two other newly renovated spaces in the Financial District offer three fresh attractions that give the area a needed spark, even though each of them has flaws.

In the case of 101 California, the intersection is a 1-acre space near Market Street that replaces the 1982 original. Two blocks to the west is the redone 15th-floor rooftop terrace at 343 Sansome, from 1990. Head three blocks south to the corner of Bush and Sansome streets and you’ll encounter the marbled “conservatory” that fills the skylit shell of a 1910 banking temple now serving as the public space for One Sansome, a 42-story tower.

None of them are truly public: Each was built and is maintained by the owners of towers, as required by city planning rules that date to the 1980s. This leads to an inevitable tension — who is welcome and who isn’t? — that is especially apparent at One Sansome.

The conservatory has radiated a posh but icy air since the adjacent tower opened in 1984, and the structural upgrade is an improvement. One example: Four of its seven classical, arched entries now have glass inserts that swing up and extend outward, like canopies signaling passersby that this is their space, too.

That sense of welcome dissipates once inside, as surely as if the two huge new ceiling fans below the skyline had blown it away.

Forget about low-key tables and seats where you would feel comfortable eating a burrito: The furniture is a cross between French Baroque and lobby modern, including upholstered chairs that extend upward on three sides past even a tall person’s chin (so much for armrests). Except for two high communal tables with backless stools — de rigueur in the tech world — the only horizontal surfaces are a few round glass tables, less than 16 inches wide.

“We’ve committed to the city to make it fully open to the public,” said Michael Barker of Barker Pacific Group, One Sansome’s owner. At the same time, “We want to make it feel like a private club that’s open to the public.”

They succeeded. This feels like a space for formal galas more than kicking back. And not by chance — Barker Pacific Group last month won Planning Commission approval to close off the space not only on the weekends, but also one day per month to hold private events. Nights and weekends, it’s being marketed as “a one-of-a-kind guest experience.”

The ground level space opens onto California and Davis streets, with broad paths past raised planters topped by already large strawberry trees. The retaining walls for the planter beds provide seating, as do two snug “lawns” of artificial turf that face the atrium of the saw-toothed barrel-like tower.

The plaza design bears no resemblance to the original one by local firm SWA — a sculptural landscape anchored by three stepped pyramids that hid mechanical systems while offering room to sit amid fat planters. Everything was overscale, a deliberate match to the jagged oomph of the tower designed by Philip Johnson. They even shared the same pink granite skin that helps the high-rise retain a powerful presence on our ever-more-crowded skyline.

Height playing off height. Strength meeting strength, down to the round granite fountain that spilled water with a traffic-muffling roar.

That gusto is what I miss about the former space: This one is all about methodical calibrated placemaking. It feels innocuous.

But it also feels safe and inviting, and that’s what counts in our day and age. You can migrate to central or peripheral spaces depending on your mood. Sight lines add a sense of security, but the space isn’t stark.

“The challenge was, how do you make things feel more open and public and accessible,” said Gregory Mottola of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the architecture firm that teamed with the OJB landscape architects to remake the plaza and the tower’s atrium for the owner, Hines. “We wanted to change the nature of the space.”

The third public area, 343 Sansome’s rooftop terrace, received the lightest touch. In some ways it works the best — but it also shows how problematic the notion of privately owned public space can be.

This one offers unique views of how a skyline looks when you’re in the middle of the fray, plus seating that runs the gamut from resort-type sofas to sturdy metal tables perfect for a brown-bag lunch. There’s a bonus delight for art fans: Joan Brown’s “Four Seasons,” a tiled obelisk done not long before the death of the masterful Bay Area artist in 1990.

Brown’s colorful piece has been touched up to reverse decades of exposure to the elements, and the rooftop feels more open after removal of the bench-circled olive trees that filled the western half of the terrace. Add new furniture and that’s about it.

What’s enticing, besides the views, is the primer on how to make a good space: Include enough greenery to soften the ambiance but not overwhelm it. Offer different types of seating in different layouts. Make sure some of that seating can be moved back and forth, because some people like to fiddle with their chairs.

The catch? To get to the 15th floor you must — spoiler alert — walk through 343 Sansome’s lobby to reach the escalator. There’s no requirement to sign in or show identification, unlike other rooftop spaces, but it’s still a powerful filter.

That’s the trade-off that comes with what the city calls “POPOS,” a clumsy acronym for privately owned public spaces. Some developers embrace such accessibility. Others resent it — especially after the pandemic hit and the combination of drugs and mental illness added to the number of troubled people on downtown streets.

Even with flaws, it’s good to have these three spiffed-up spaces returned to the Financial District’s public realm. Now it’s up to us to put them to use. After all, they’re ours.

ABOUT BARKER PACIFIC GROUP
Barker Pacific Group (BPG) was founded more than 39 years ago and is comprised of experienced real estate professionals active in asset management, acquisitions, and development of major commercial projects. BPG developed 100 First Plaza in San Francisco and also owns and manages One Sansome Street in San Francisco. Some of the firm’s other notable projects include Hamilton Landing and Rowland Plaza in Marin County; The Fine Arts Building, 626 Wilshire Blvd., and 5055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles; 101 Continental in El Segundo, Calif.; City Square in Phoenix; and Tower 300 in Las Vegas. Additionally, BPG manages Storage Solutions, a growing leader in the self-storage industry, offering consumers and businesses a variety of self-storage space and supplies throughout California.

BPG also has self-storage facilities in Arizona. BPG has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. The company specializes in developing and acquiring institutional quality office, retail, and residential projects in select U.S. cities.

Read the full article on The Real Deal

Starwood Capital has signed a 10-year lease for just under 11,000 square feet on the 32nd floor of One Sansome, The Real Deal has learned.

The real estate investment trust management firm will leave behind its former San Francisco offices at 100 Pine Street in late summer, according to Michael Barker, whose Barker Pacific Group owns One Sansome along with Prudential Real Estate Investors. Financial terms of the lease were not disclosed.

“We’re in final design,” said Barker. “We’re building out some very, very nice space for them. This is space that’s unoccupied that we’re totally remodeling for their specific needs.”

Barker said the global real estate investor was drawn to the building’s location on top of the Montgomery BART station, as well as its newly revamped amenities package, which includes a $20 million investment in its ground-floor space. That renovation involved turning a portion of the former lobby into flexible conference rooms that tenants in the buildings can rent out free of charge. Starwood loved having the option of using those spaces, as it meant the firm could have less square footage in its office but still have spots for larger meetings when necessary, Barker said.

The short-term leases that have become popular in San Francisco as office tenants remain uncertain about the future of remote work policies while vacancy rates trend higher and higher, have not been a big factor in the deals signed at One Sansome in the last year, Barker said.

“Some of these companies want to have a long-term home,” he said, pointing to other recent long-term leases. They include commercial real estate investor Ellis Partners; brokerage Newmark, which took the top two floors and also represents the building; and an expansion and extension from current tenant HIG Capital.

None of those recent deals include tech companies, he pointed out.

“Tech guys, I think that’s where you’re hearing a lot of this short-term stuff,” he said.

One Sansome is diversifying into the wedding industry, Barker said, hosting hundreds of wedding planners in one of its first events at its newly renovated and weatherized Conservatory space, a columned granite and glass atrium first built in 1910 to be the home of Anglo and London Paris National Bank. The 16,000-square-foot space can accommodate up to 2,000 people and — thanks to new windows, heating and cooling systems, as well as a deal worked out over several years with the city to enclose the privately-owned public open space and have it off limits to the public during certain days and hours — is now available for private events. Several weddings have already been booked, he added.

“We’re spending a lot of money on this,” Barker said of the new ground-floor amenities, including a high-end British club-style restaurant set to open this summer. “And we think it’ll pay off in the long run.”

TRD Staff

ABOUT BARKER PACIFIC GROUP
Barker Pacific Group (BPG) was founded more than 39 years ago and is comprised of experienced real estate professionals active in asset management, acquisitions, and development of major commercial projects. BPG developed 100 First Plaza in San Francisco and also owns and manages One Sansome Street in San Francisco. Some of the firm’s other notable projects include Hamilton Landing and Rowland Plaza in Marin County; The Fine Arts Building, 626 Wilshire Blvd., and 5055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles; 101 Continental in El Segundo, Calif.; City Square in Phoenix; and Tower 300 in Las Vegas. Additionally, BPG manages Storage Solutions, a growing leader in the self-storage industry, offering consumers and businesses a variety of self-storage space and supplies throughout California.

BPG also has self-storage facilities in Arizona. BPG has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. The company specializes in developing and acquiring institutional quality office, retail, and residential projects in select U.S. cities.

Read the full article on Bisnow

Barker Pacific Group and its JV partner Kingsbarn Realty Capital purchased Santa Ana’s Griffin Towers, two 13-story office properties at 5 and 6 Hutton Centre Drive, for $82M.

That represents an approximately $47M loss for the property’s seller, Blackstone.

Blackstone bought the towers in 2014 from Lincoln Property Co. and Angelo Gordon & Co., paying $129M, according to reports at the time. County property records indicate the towers have not changed hands since then and the owner of the towers is listed as an LLC connected to Blackstone in public records, since the recent sale has not yet posted.

The towers hold about 560K SF of office and count UKG, Michael Baker International, Psomas, Nations Direct Mortgage, HNTB and the Ayn Rand Institute as tenants.

Barker Pacific announced the sale and price but did not disclose the seller. Kevin Shannon, Paul Jones and Brandon White of Newmark represented the seller. David Milestone and Henry Cassiday of Newmark represented the buyer in its debt financing efforts.

The Orange County office market had an average asking rent of $2.67 pre SF at the end of the first quarter of this year, compared with the national average of $2.92 per SF, according to Kidder Mathews. The county’s vacancy rate is 12.6% which KM classified as “substantial.”

Bianca Barragan

Staff Reporter - Biznow

ABOUT GRIFFIN TOWERS
Griffin Towers are landmark 13-story twin office towers located at 5 and 6 Hutton Centre Drive in the prestigious South Metro area of Santa Ana, California. Built in 1987, the towers offer about 560,000 rentable square feet of Class A office space with flexible and efficient floor plans, as well as a fitness center with shower and locker rooms, a conference center with full catering kitchenette, and six-story parking structure with 1846 spaces and four EV charging stations. Barker Pacific Group (BPG), a commercial developer based in Los Angeles with numerous assets throughout the Western U.S., acquired the building in March 2023. Major tenants include, UKG, Michael Baker International, Ferry International, Psomas, Nation’s Direct Mortgage, HNTB, and the Ayn Rand Institute.

ABOUT BARKER PACIFIC GROUP
Barker Pacific Group (BPG) was founded more than 39 years ago and is comprised of experienced real estate professionals active in asset management, acquisitions, and development of major commercial projects. BPG developed 100 First Plaza in San Francisco and also owns and manages One Sansome Street in San Francisco. Some of the firm’s other notable projects include Hamilton Landing and Rowland Plaza in Marin County; The Fine Arts Building, 626 Wilshire Blvd., and 5055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles; 101 Continental in El Segundo, Calif.; City Square in Phoenix; and Tower 300 in Las Vegas. Additionally, BPG manages Storage Solutions, a growing leader in the self-storage industry, offering consumers and businesses a variety of self-storage space and supplies throughout California.

BPG also has self-storage facilities in Arizona. BPG has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. The company specializes in developing and acquiring institutional quality office, retail, and residential projects in select U.S. cities.

Read the full article on the San Francisco Business Times

Phil Spiegel at One Sansome, where he and the landlords are investing millions in a new event space, conference center and restaurant.

The renovated lobby at One Sansome will open this year with a bar, restaurant and private event space that position the building to be downtown’s next sought after spot for a two-person power lunch or a 2,000-person Christmas party.

Owners Prudential Real Estate Investors and Barker Pacific Group are investing roughly $24 million in the upgrade.

Running the hospitality show is longtime Julia Morgan ballroom veteran and former Clint Reilly events point man Philip Siegel, who contributed about $3.75 million to the project he raised last year from friends and colleagues via his company, Please FiDi LLC.

New 20-foot glass doors open the cavernous ground-floor atrium (also known as the conservatory) to street level; it’s a zoned public space. The space gives way up a short flight of marble stairs to an opulent new American restaurant and bar lounge, Holbrook House — the first foray into hospitality from renowned interior designer Jeff Schlarb — expected to open this summer.

The North Lobby’s new conference center features space partitioned into four rooms by “sky walls” that retract into the ceiling to accommodate 500 people.

One Sansome is marketing the 18,000-square-foot atrium for corporate events, fundraisers, holiday parties and weddings (the first event is in April, when Mayor London Breed speaks at the Mission Dolores Academy Luncheon).

When events like the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference come to town, the building’s office tenants can show off their priority access to the conference rooms. Nontenants can also reserve space, at higher rates.

Catering the events will be an opportunity for Spiegel’s hospitality group, but he won’t be channeling that all through Holbrook House. He’s developing a free “hospitality concierge” for tenants to cater their suites seamlessly with food from restaurants, ordered via the building’s own app.

“Our kitchen fields the delivery, makes it look pretty, brings it up to you and sets it up in your suite,” Spiegel said. “There’s a real service involved with what we’re doing.”

Operationally, Spiegel wants to soft open with “civic-minded” fundraisers. The restaurant will be open and the atrium space available to the public as much as possible during work week hours, with nights, the slower weekends and most of December set aside for weddings and holiday parties.

There are still some complications to work out with the city for permission to close down the public space for private events; one solution may be to partition the space.

Alex Barreira
Staff Reporter - San Francisco Business Times

ABOUT BARKER PACIFIC GROUP
Barker Pacific Group (BPG) was founded more than 39 years ago and is comprised of experienced real estate professionals active in asset management, acquisitions, and development of major commercial projects. BPG developed 100 First Plaza in San Francisco and also owns and manages One Sansome Street in San Francisco. Some of the firm’s other notable projects include Hamilton Landing and Rowland Plaza in Marin County; The Fine Arts Building, 626 Wilshire Blvd., and 5055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles; 101 Continental in El Segundo, Calif.; City Square in Phoenix; and Tower 300 in Las Vegas. Additionally, BPG manages Storage Solutions, a growing leader in the self-storage industry, offering consumers and businesses a variety of self-storage space and supplies throughout California.

BPG also has self-storage facilities in Arizona. BPG has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. The company specializes in developing and acquiring institutional quality office, retail, and residential projects in select U.S. cities.

Read the full article on The Registry

Barker Pacific Group (BPG) has secured two new leases totaling nearly 25,000 square feet at Sutter Square in downtown Concord, Calif. The State of California has signed an eight-year 8,200 square-foot lease for its Dept. of Rehabilitation office. Additionally, Premier Workspaces has signed a 10-year lease for 14,210 square feet. The Bay Area-based coworking company moved in November 2022.

“We’re focusing on making services and amenities to appeal to current and future tenants,” said Michael Barker, managing director of BPG. “Adding Premier Workspaces will help attract startup businesses who will grow into larger spaces available throughout Sutter Square.”

“Premier Workspaces provides a cool, hip flexible working spot ideal for those relocating to the area, small businesses, and others looking to tie into the energy of a shared space,” said Michael Pollack, vice president of real estate at Premier Workspaces.

The leases raise Sutter Square’s occupancy to over 80 percent. Scott Ellis, Eric Erickson, and Matt Hurd of Colliers International’s Walnut Creek, Calif. office manage the leasing efforts for the building. CBRE’s Brian Beswick and Adam Ebner represented the State of California in their lease, while Bob Rush of US Realty Group represented Premier Workspaces in their lease, respectively.

Located at 1800 Sutter Street in downtown Concord, one of California’s highest-profile business communities, Sutter Square is three blocks from Concord BART and Highway 242. It is also within walking distance of major retail, financial, and business services. BPG acquired Sutter Square with JV partner Iron Point Partners in January 2020 and initiated strategic renovations. The nine-floor, 176,637-square-foot building includes six levels of private, secured subterranean parking.

ABOUT SUTTER SQUARE
Sutter Square is a nine-story office building located at 1800 Sutter Street in downtown Concord, Calif., one of California’s highest-profile business communities. Sutter Square offers 176,637  square feet of leasable space and six levels of private, secured subterranean parking. Sutter Square is within walking distance of major retail, financial, and business services and is only three blocks from Concord BART and Highway 242. Barker Pacific Group, the property manager, acquired the building with JV partner Iron Point Partners in January 2020. Colliers International handles leasing.

ABOUT BARKER PACIFIC GROUP
Barker Pacific Group (BPG) was founded more than 39 years ago and is comprised of experienced real estate professionals active in asset management, acquisitions, and development of major commercial projects. BPG developed 100 First Plaza in San Francisco and also owns and manages One Sansome Street in San Francisco. Some of the firm’s other notable projects include Hamilton Landing and Rowland Plaza in Marin County; The Fine Arts Building, 626 Wilshire Blvd., and 5055 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles; 101 Continental in El Segundo, Calif.; City Square in Phoenix; and Tower 300 in Las Vegas. Additionally, BPG manages Storage Solutions, a growing leader in the self-storage industry, offering consumers and businesses a variety of self-storage space and supplies throughout California.

BPG also has self-storage facilities in Arizona. BPG has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. The company specializes in developing and acquiring institutional quality office, retail, and residential projects in select U.S. cities.

Read the full article on The Registry

SAN FRANCISCO - Barker Pacific Group (BPG) announced today that Ellis Partners has signed a 10-year lease for 6,559 sq. ft. at One Sansome in downtown San Francisco. Ellis Partners will relocate from 111 Sutter St. and is expected to move into the 15th-floor space in One Sansome in January 2023.

A soaring 42-story tower in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District, One Sansome is a diversified multi-tenant, multi-industry building boasting 650,000 square feet of leasable Class A office space.

"It's great to have a 30-year-old, privately held real estate investment and development company choose One Sansome as their next long-term home," said Michael Barker, managing director of BPG. "Our team has to work hand in hand with Ellis Partner's design/construction team to navigate a changing construction pricing environment. Ultimately, we delivered a buildout package that met the tenant's needs."

Ellis Partners is a privately-owned commercial real estate investment and development company founded in San Francisco in 1993. The firm has successfully acquired and developed assets valued at over $2.5 billion.

"Ellis Partners is excited to join the roster of impressive tenants at One Sansome," said Jim Ellis, managing principal for the firm. "The tower's convenient location and outstanding tenant amenities helped secure out decision to relocate out offices."

BPG took ownership of One Sansome in 2010 and has spent more than $100 million on renovations and added over 10,000 square feet of repurposed, rentable space. BPG recently announced the future addition of an ambitious, multi-faceted hospitality concept that promises to create a new hive of activity in one of downtown's most cherished landmarks, the historic Albert Pissis-designed 8,000-square-foot ground floor conservatory of One Sansome. Newly formed PLEASE FIDI, Inc, led by veteran hospitality player Phil Spiegel, is transforming the expansive building lobby and light-filled atrium into a new gathering places for the neighborhood. Plans call for a modern private event facility, an eye-popping neighborhood bar, and an upscale restaurant across multiple ground-floor spaces.

The deal between PLEASE FIDI and Barker Pacific seeks a tight integration between the building's hospitality component and tenant amenities. In addition to operating a bar, restaurant, and event facility, PLEASE will offer an exclusive catering program to the tenants of One Sansome and within the building's newly built conference rooms, private dining rooms, tenant lounges, and the conservatory itself. The arrangement poitions PLEASE to operate as a veritable "hospitality concierge" to One Sansome's strong tenant roster.

"We know we had to make some big moves to best position One Sansome in the post-pandemic world, and they are paying off," added Barker. "We're focusing on making services and amenities to appeal to current and future tenants."

Other new or renewal leases added in 2022 include:

• Pachulski, Stang, Ziehl & Jones, #33XX (6,558 sq. ft.)

• Egon Zehnder, #3900, new lease (10,176 sq. ft.)

• HIG Capital, #3700, extension (17,560 sq. ft.)

• Community Counseling Services, new lease in 2024 (2,749 sq. ft.)

• HIG Capital, #3420, new lease (8,019 sq. ft.)

• Kaplan Kirsch & Rockwell, #2910, new lease (3,348 sq. ft.)

• Skikos, Crawford Skikos & Joseph, #2830, extension (6,289 sq. ft.)

• Ampersand, #720, new lease (2,321 sq. ft.)

Roman Adler and Mike Brown of Newmark represented One Sansome in the Ellis Partners deal and just moved its San Francisco HQ into One Sansome's 41st and 42nd floors. Eli Ceryak of Cushman & Wakefield represented Ellis Partners.

Read full article on Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Las Vegas’ first downtown office tower has a new name and some new tenants. 

Barker Pacific Group, which acquired the office property at 300 S. Fourth St. last year, has rebranded it Tower 300. Developed by the late Irwin Molasky, the 17-story building was previously known as Bank of America Plaza.

A ribbon-cutting was held last month for Pacific Workplaces, a coworking-space firm that leased more than 16,600 square feet in the 1970's-era building, taking the entire 6th floor.

Also, law firm Holley Driggs confirmed to the Review-Journal that it leased the building's top floor and about half of the floor below it and that it plans to move in this summer.

Souther Nevada's office market still faces questions more than two years after the pandemic sparked widespread work-from-home arrangements. But developers are building more offices, employers have been leasing space, and in downtown, which is heavy on law firms and government agencies, the vacancy rate is smaller than the region overall.

Center-city outpost
Barker Pacific founder Michael Barker told the Review-Journal that he loves Tower 300's history, that he views the building as price office space near courthouses and the like, and that his firm has the cash to pay for tenant improvements.

He noted that several companies have taken space in Las Vegas' Summerlin community, as it puts them closer to executive housing, but that his firm likes center-city locations.

"It felt like it was an area we wanted to be in," Barker said.

Downtown Las Vegas' office vacancy rate in the first quarter was 10.1 percent, compared with the valley's overall vacancy rate of 12.5 percent, brokerage Colliers International reported.

Barker confirmed that, as property records show, he acquired the building through a "deed in lieu of foreclosure." A deed in lieu, as it's known, transfers real estate ownership while avoiding foreclosure process and is typically undertaken when a property is in financial distress.

Barker said the tower had been around 45 percent to 50 percent occupied and was underwater, meaning the mortgage outweighed the property's value.

He said the building is now 58 percent or 59 percent leased.

Before his firm took ownership, the property last changed hands in 2010, when investment firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. teamed with City Center Realty Partners to acquire the tower for $64 million, according to property records and published reports. 

The property was 92 percent leased at the time, a news release stated.

Angelo Gordon declined to comment for this story. Executives with City Center Realty could not be reached for comment.

'Moving a block'
Molasky, who died in 2020 at age 93, was one of Las Vegas' most influential developers outside the Strip. Starting in the 1950s, he and his partners were behind several first-of-their-kind projects for the area, including Las Vegas' first privately owned hospital, Sunrise Hospital; master-planned community, Paradise Palms; and downtown office tower, built in 1975.

San Francisco-based Pacific Workplaces announced its lease at 300 S. Fourth St. in January, saying the space would include 58 private offices and team rooms; 50 dedicated desks and coworking stations; meeting rooms; and a podcast room.

Pacific Workplaces marketing manager Kim Seipel said this week the location has three full-time offices leased and three coworking memberships, "but we are seeing leads come in, and the meeting room bookings have been unexpectedly busy."

Meanwhile, Holley Driggs managing shareholder Ron Thompson said the law firm expects to move to Tower 300 on Aug. 1 and confirmed it is relocating from a neighborhood office building, at 400 S. Fourth St.

Thompson said that the firm's existing lease expires this summer and that it got a good deal for the new space.

"That's why we're moving a block," he said.

Read the full article on Phoenix Business Journal

Los Angeles-based Barker Pacific Group recently completed major renovations to the City Square office park in midtown Phoenix. 

City Square, formerly known as Kent Plaza and Rosenzweig Center, comprises three high-rise office buildings at 3800 to 4000 Central Ave. totaling 736,000 square feet, a hotel, open air retail plaza and 1,200-car parking garage.

It was built in the 1960s by Del Webb Corp. and designed by architectural firm Flatow, Moore, Bryan and Fairburn, according to the company. 

In a joint-venture with Washington, D.C.-based Iron Point Partners, BPG acquired the office park in 2019 for $45 million. Since purchasing the property, the companies have invested $12.9 million in renovations, including several million dollars in tenant improvements.

"The property ownership was impaired in that they were underwater on their debt," said Michael Barker, CEO and managing director of BPG. "When that happens if you're and office building owner, it's very hard to attract new tenants."

When the company purchased City Square, the office towers were only about 60% leased, "so we saw an opportunity to come in with new capital," Barker said. The company's lender on the project is Alliance Bank.

The company said about 290,000 square feet of space has been updated in some capacity and that it has completed 57 renewal or new lease transactions totaling 365,315 square feet since 2019.

New tenants, updated plaza

Upgrades to the property include tenant improvements, electric charging stations, new corridors, restrooms and lobbies, while existing amenities feature Wi-Fi, a gym, cafe, 156-room hotel owned by another company, retail spaces with a bank, hair salon, and a new courtyard with a coffee kiosk retrofitted from a shipping container.

Flagstaff-based Firecreek Coffee will occupy the shipping container in June, while one of the office towers will also undergo a new paint job in July, the company said.

The joint venture also completed a $2.5 million remodeling of the central plaza and courtyard area, dubbed City Square Plaza, designed by San Francisco-based Gensler. 

The plaza features 60-foot wind sails that light up with color-changing LED lighting at night, a new stage for events, pavers, landscaping, seating and planter boxes for tenants and visitors.

"A lot of companies have had people working form home. Getting people back to the office is not easy for some companies," Barker said. "If they're in an environment where it can also be collaborative, fun experience as opposed to just go into an office and sitting in a desk. In all our buildings, we're trying to focus on those kind of amenities that would be appealing for tenants to be there during the workweek."

The Arizona Department of Economic Services is the largest tenant in the office park at 81,377 square feet. Arizona Department of Transportation, Veterans Benefits Administration and First Things First are also tenants in the park. The company said it also has a number of law firms and money management firms in the office complex.

BPG was founded in 1983 and has developed major projects in Phoenix and across the U.S. in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale.

Older office buildings in the Phoenix metro continue to be renovated as companies figure out how to bring employees back to the office. Also in midtown Phoenix, an iconic office building formerly known as Phoenix Financial Center is being revitalized into a mid-century modern mixed-use campus with the addition of a 335-unit multifamily complex and a 1-acre park that will be used for community events such as concerts.

The Phoenix metro sa a 20% vacancy rate in the first quarter of this year for office space, according to CBRE Group Inc. New Class A office developments have driven a lot of leasing activity in Phoenix and Tempe. In Q1, class A offices space had 400,000 square feet of positive absorption, or the space leased minus what became vacant.

Read the full article on San Francisco Business Times

Beyond a shot in the arm for the still sluggish Financial District, the upcoming restaurant and bar at One Sansome represents another new frontier for its aesthetic mastermind Jeff Schlarb, the renowned San Francisco interior designer who tells me this first foray into commercial hospitality after more than two decades in residential projects won't be his last.

One Sansome owned Barker Pacific Group enlisted longtime Julia Morgan ballroom show runner Philip Spiegel and his newly formed Please FiDi venture to lead the upcoming fine-American concept, dubbed Holbrook House and targeting an early 2023 opening. Spiegel then turned to Schlarb, a fixture in residences around the Bar Area and projects across the glove, known for an aesthetic described on his studio website as "curiosity without chaos."

"If you're a wealthy person in San Francisco, Jeff's probably done your residence," Spiegel  told me. "We're all in with him, putting huge money into the design of this bar and restaurant."

Spiegel personally raised about $4.5 millions for the project from various investors in hospitality, whom he declined to name for the time being. The overall $23 million renovation will include the restaurant on the ground floor of the high-rise, a new upper-floor amenity space and a re-imagining of the long underutilized historic atrium on the ground floor, which Spiegel aims to turn into a destination for "sophisticated business breakfast," lunch and large event space rivaling high-end hotels.

"If you're doing a 20-person conference, we're your place, if you're doing a 2,000 person Christmas party, we're your place," he said. "It's the peacock of the project."

Schlarb mans a 16-person studio on Sacramento Street that has also opened satellite offices in New York and Los Angeles, as well as a second studio space and showroom across the street from the flagship. His bread and butter is residences and the occasional design showcase, crisscrossing from the Bar Area to Geneva to London, his own homes in Nob Hill and Healdsburg, and entertaining his two young daughters.

"Design is all I do," he said, describing how the momentum of one residential project leads to another. But with the "community affirmation" of others involved on One Sansome, he said he's "so chuffed to be part of this it's incredible," and is ready to take on other commercial design projects going forward.

"You get more of what you do, so we're hoping this kind of first major hospitality project will birth some new ones," Schlarb said. "I'd love to do a hotel, who wouldn't want to do a hotel? And the bar, and the restaurant."

See the slideshow at the top of this story for a preview of Holbrook House's aesthetic. Inside heavy burgundy wallpaper with floral print will contrast with blue leather-walnut-and brass-dressed seating tucked into various arrangements and lining the walls of the approximately 2,000-square-foot space, seating about 40. The bar, which dominates the room, is circled with globe lights with brass stems and gives way to a railing where the bar glasses and overflowing greenery will co-mingle.

"We're just drooling over these details I found in London and Geneva, places that have been there for 400 year," Schlarb said. "It's going to look like San Francisco, feel like San Francisco, but in a worldly way."

"It's going to feel instantly historical," he added. "Forever."

Schlarb's design elements in the bar link to and reinforce each other. Globe light fixtures and bar greenery match the deep green leather and brass bar stools, custom designed for Holbrook House like most of the furniture. Other table surfaces are split asymmetrically between marble - mirroring the bar top - and wood with dividing lines of brass, inspired by a hotel cafe Schlarb recently visited on a residential call in Geneva.

"It's classic materiality but we're doing enough contemporization to make things fresh," he said. "There are three different kinds of tables and if you put them together (the split) is meant to be one straight line all the way across."

In the early innings of the design there's still more surprises potentially on the way. Tacked onto the end of a deck of renderings is a slide labeled "bathroom ideas" depicting a giant boombox sitting on a shelf.

"I was starting to think of cool ways to make it more fun and playful," Schlarb said. He described how the Marina restaurant Mamanoko incorporates bilingual Japanese and English audio snippets into the atmosphere. "It would be cool to have several different stereos affixed to the wall and put the music coming out of there, with, who knows, historic conversations or a city arts lecture from long ago, the clinking of glasses."

Wherever things land, Schlarb spoke to the choir when he added that the neighborhood could use a new place or two in light of the pandemic's emptying out of downtown offices. He recounted a recent outing to the new RH design gallery and restaurant in the Dogpatch and a frustrated hunt afterwards for a good digestif.

"We're heading back towards the north side of town and there was basically nothing between there and the Marina we could think of," he said. "I think the Financial District is thirsty for new spots like this. They need to play a little catch up."

Read the full article on SF Chronicle

A century-old space next to downtown San Francisco’s Montgomery BART Station is getting a $20 million makeover for the pandemic age.

Barker Pacific Group, owner of One Sansome Street, is bringing a new bar, restaurant and private event space to the property’s publicly accessible 1910 conservatory, in an effort to reinvigorate the area.

Renovations were planned before the pandemic, but have taken on more significance after foot traffic in the area plunged during the shutdown. Citibank, the anchor tenant of One Sansome’s 42-story tower portion, also vacated five floors as its lease expired and the bank consolidated its offices elsewhere.

The investment in One Sansome is one of the biggest bets on downtown San Francisco after the $250 million renovations planned at the Transamerica Pyramid, and both projects are focusing on hospitality, food and drink to lure both office workers and visitors looking for a good time.

One Sansome is no stranger to downturns. Barker Pacific Group and its partner PGIM bought the property out of foreclosure in 2010, with two floors vacated by defunct bank Bear Stearns. The owners have since invested more than $100 million in the building and it was fully leased by 2015 as the city’s economy recovered strongly.

Read the full article on LasVegasNevada.gov

Tower 300, the former Bank of America building at 300 S. Fourth St., is a downtown landmark.  Originally built in 1975, the 17-story tower reigned as the area’s iconic center of commerce, law and business for nearly a half-century. Today, the rebranded Tower 300, not only has a new name, it has a fresh new look, new ownership and new tenants, all of which are part of the area’s exciting ongoing revitalization.

Barker Pacific Group, a commercial developer based in Los Angeles with numerous assets throughout the Western U.S., acquired the building in May 2021. According to Will Dickinson, vice president at Barker Pacific Group, the palpable energy of downtown Las Vegas was the tipping point in the company’s decision to acquire the building.

“The significant investment happening in downtown Las Vegas was evident to us with Circa, new multi-family projects at Symphony Park, and newly refreshed hotels, office buildings and businesses of all sizes,” said Dickinson.  “With new tenants already moving into Tower 300, we remain as enthusiastic as ever about Las Vegas.”

Pacific Workplaces is the newest tenant in the building, a Bay Area coworking company making its first foray into Las Vegas. Pacific Workplaces, which took occupancy in early April, boasts more than 16,000-square-feet on the sixth floor, and provides a cool, hip flexible working spot ideal for those relocating to the area, small businesses and others looking to vibe off the energy of shared space. 

“We are so excited to host the ribbon cutting event with Mayor Goodman and many Vegas movers and shakers in our space on the sixth floor of the building,” said Laurent Dhollande, CEO of Pacific Workplaces. “We’ll have plenty of prizes and goodies to hand out and the opportunity for everyone to see why people love to work and collaborate at Pacific Workplaces.”

Mark Handin , a partner of Barker Pacific Group said he couldn’t be more pleased with, and thankful to, the city of Las Vegas. 

“In our short time in Las Vegas, the city has quickly proven to be a strong, pro-business advocate,” Handin said. “We are not accustomed to this level of support from local municipalities. It is quite refreshing. We look forward to contributing to improve downtown Las Vegas.”

Soon, the law firm Holley Driggs, will occupy more than 25,000 square feet at Tower 300 taking the top two floors of the building when the firm settles in later this summer. Tower 300 is also proud to be home to the International Innovation Center @Vegas on the first floor as a tenant. 

“We appreciate the concept of supportive incubator space for tech companies large and small, and we love having the city’s landmark Innovation Center as one of our tenant companies,” said Dickinson.

Barker Pacific Group will be joined by Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman and city officials on May 24 to officially “open” Pacific Workplaces with a traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony. But in the meantime, according to Dickinson, “their leasing team headed by Mike Tabeek and his team at Newmark Knight Frank, is continuing to ink leasing deals with companies and businesses large and small seeking a downtown address – the hottest, hippest, and most happening place to do business in Las Vegas.”

In January, BPG affiliate Storage Solutions, which specializes in the acquisition, development, and management of self-storage facilities, sold it's six-property Southern California portfolio. Comprising of 4,229 units and 661,926 net rentable square feet of space, the properties were highly occupied at the time of sale, netting a sizable return to our investors. Excellent work to our team and we look forward to continued growth of our storage platform.

In December, BPG acquired Extra Space Pecos located in Mesa, AZ. The property, a newly built, climate-controlled, Class A property, has 615 units and 33 RV parking spaces totaling 78,100 net rentable square feet of space. While technically located in Mesa, the property abuts the Queen Creek area which has one of the highest amounts of residential and retail developments within the Phoenix MSA. The partnership is confident the property is well-positioned to take advantage of the market's increasing population and residential/retail developments to achieve both physical and economic occupancy stabilization and result in a respectable ROI.

This acquisition represents the 13th transaction between BPG and Artemis, and 5th property in the Phoenix market.