Recent Purchase Expands Research Park Leasing Options

ALAMEDA, CA—DRA Advisors and Local Capital Group recently purchased Regatta Commons and moved quickly to expand tenant opportunities at the Research Park at Marina Village on the waterfront. The Research Park at Marina Village is a 60-acre office park set within a 200-acre master-planned community on the waterfront.

Directly adjacent to Marina Village, this additional 275,000 square feet of adjacent office/life science and a development site expands the partnership’s overall life science offering to 950,000 square feet in the 1.4 million-square-foot business park.

“With Emeryville, Berkeley, San Francisco and Oakland filling with tenants, we believe that Alameda provides an excellent transit-friendly location with all the essential components of a live-work-play environment to suit modern businesses and their talent,” said Dan Poritzky of Local Capital Group. “The Research Park at Marina Village just got bigger and this acquisition is another significant step in realizing the promise we made in June that we would support tenants with new amenities and options.”

Poritzky highlighted the larger tenant improvement allowances, flexible and large block space availabilities along with a new development opportunity as well as the expansion of transit options including the addition of ferry services as significant competitive advantages of the Alameda life science cluster.

“We’re also right on the waterfront–where else can you grab a complimentary paddleboard or kayak and explore the estuary and Bay in your lunch hour?” said Poritzky.

In addition to the tenant improvement packages, a curated life science project team has pulled in significant leasing activity as the asset emerges as the Bay Area’s next life science cluster. Grant Yeatman, Sam Swan and Scott Miller of JLL who were selected to handle leasing of Marina Village will also handle leasing for the newly acquired property.

“Ownership said in June it was committed to supporting tenants with new amenities at Marina Village and this additional strategic acquisition in the geographic center of the Bay provides tenants with flexibility, scalability and varied options, and amenities in the face of ever-tightening life science and office markets around the Bay,” said Yeatman. “We have been pleased with the leasing momentum over the first 90 days, especially on the life science front. Our goal is to accommodate growth and enhance the latest life science cluster in the Bay Area.”

Life science and other users now have quality office options. The combination of Marina Village and the new acquisition creates one of the largest waterfront life science campuses in the Bay Area and provides immediate large block availability to tenants unable to find suitable space elsewhere throughout the Bay. In addition to 275,000 square feet of existing low-rise waterfront office space in four buildings located at 300-600 Wind River Way, the expansion comes with the opportunity to develop an additional 150,000 square feet of entitled commercial space.

In addition, Marina Village has more than 500,000 square feet of dedicated life science and research space. With 125,000 square feet of direct vacancy now deliverable, vacant space is being redesigned to accommodate sophisticated lab users. Vacant suites range from 5,000 square feet to more than 40,000 square feet for a full-building user with the ability to create a campus environment.

“We’re doing more than just providing space in what is now a 950,000-square-foot life science cluster,” Poritzky tells GlobeSt.com. “We’re giving our tenants the tools to attract and retain talent. Over the past 60 days, we have been working with three different ferry operators to bring private service to our campus, just 50 feet from a tenant’s doorstep. While private, we believe that other tenants would be able to utilize these ferries too.”

The Research Park is less than 15 minutes from Oakland International Airport. The 12th Street BART station and San Francisco-Alameda ferry provide public transportation access to the development through a dedicated project shuttle which is surrounded by shopping and retail amenities.

“The ability to offer above-market tenant improvement packages to create high-quality life science space in the $4.50 to $5.00 triple net rent range makes the Research Park one of the Bay Area’s most compelling options,” Swan tells GlobeSt.com. “And there is a large development site for further expansion, positioning Local Capital Group’s vertically integrated team led by DES Architects to further expand this life science cluster.”

The East Bay economic indicators continue to indicate strong fundamentals across all sectors. Employment growth year-over-year for the East Bay grew by 1.5% and logged a total of 18,000 new jobs. According to the East Bay Development Alliance, the second fastest-growing sectors for employment growth are within professional and business service sectors, totaling 194,000 East Bay-based jobs. The unemployment rate experienced a noteworthy decline throughout the East Bay, sliding from 3.5% in January to 2.6% in June. This rate drop is 160 basis points below California’s unemployment which indicates that the East Bay’s economic positioning has grown to outperform other major California metros.

Overall, the East Bay’s office market continues to attract tenants looking for increased value provided by surrounding market amenities, according to Colliers International’s second-quarter office report.  Tenants seeking to be closer to a qualified workforce in transit-oriented locations continues to drive firms from around the Bay Area, and leasing demand remains high from established firms within the region, says Colliers.