The single-story flex building, at 31164-31172 Huntwood Ave., islocated next to Optisolar's current official address, 31302Huntwood Ave., where it leases approximately 80,000 sf from Rreef.The company, which is reportedly considering an expansion of theRreef leasehold as well, recently leased several hundred thousandsquare feet near Sacramento, where it plans to mass produce itstechnology. Estimates put the value of its lease with PNK LLC atapproximately $0.53 per sf (NNN). One of the leasing brokers forboth properties, Brady Thomas of Colliers International tellsGlobeSt.com that Optisolar gets the building "as is" and along withsome free rent and a small TI allowance. The deal is also good forPNK, which acquired the building in 2002. First, the investor willsee no downtime in the building, which is currently fully leased bytwo tenants: a roofing company that just moved to Fremont and asubsidiary of PNK, which is leaving this month. Second, Optisolaris expected to invest as much as a few million dollars of its ownmoney in the building, which it will utilize for office &R&D space. "If it weren't for the solar companies there wouldbe few deals of this magnitude getting done," Thomas says. "Theyare the only companies growing; everyone else is buttoning up untilthey can figure out what's going on with the economy."Optisolar,founded in 2005 as Gen 3 Solar, has been using its Hayward spacefor administration, R&D and to manufacture scale models of itsproduct. The Sacramento-area facility, located on a decommissionedAir Force base, will be its mass production facility. The companyreportedly has options to expand its operation there to 1 millionsf. Even at its current size, it is being touted as the largestplanned thin-film solar plant in the nation.Colliers' GreigLagomarsino co-brokered the deal with Thomas. Bart Lammerson andDerek Johnson of Jones Lang LaSalle (now part of Staubach Co.)represent Optisolar in its lease negotiations.

Optisolar is one of several solar companies that took down spacein the Bay Area this year. In June, Innovalight Inc., a maker ofthin-film solar panel modules leased 35,537 sf of a 49,000-sf,two-story building within AMB Property Corp's two-building,85,454-sf Arques Business Park in Sunnyvale.

In April, SVTC Technologies, an independent semiconductorprocess-development foundry that is venturing into the solar marketleased 85,000 sf in San Jose that will be used to provide solarpanel manufacturers the same service it offers the semiconductorindustry. The space is within Hellyer Oaks Technology Park, atwo-building 353,000-sf complex owned by Golden Gate Real Estate."We will be loading this building up with equipment that solarmanufacturers need for their product development," SVTC executiveKurt Laetz told GlobeSt.com at the time.