Marina Village Gains 60,000 SF of Tenants

ALAMEDA, CA-Leases totaling about 60,000 sf have been signed at the 1.16 million-sf Marina Village mixed-use development in the last couple of weeks. In the two largest deals, the South Korea-based biotech firm Bioneer leased 21,908 sf and Voxify, a developer of automated customer service representatives, has leased 24,019 sf. In addition, International Parking Design has leased 9,352 sf and Moisen Investment Co. has leased 4,000 sf.

Marina Village includes a mix of class A and class B office buildings and flex buildings, a 240,000-sf retail center, 180 townhouses, a 50-room hotel and a 990-berth marina. Legacy Partners acquired the 34-building waterfront development four months ago for about $190 million.

At the time, the office space suffered from a 30% vacancy rate. Legacy hired Cornish & Carey Commercial senior vice presidents Bill Nork and Bill Banker to find tenants. Nork tells GlobeSt.com that the leases drop vacancy in the office portion of the project close to 20%. The negotiated lease rates on these latest deals are not being disclosed; the monthly asking rate is $2.15 per sf full service.

Voxify, whose automated CSRs are said to have the conversational skills to handle advanced customer service calls, is relocating from Harbor Bay, which is located at the other end of the Alameda, near the Oakland airport. The space they are taking is built out and furnished. The previous tenant had a year to go on its lease, but Legacy negotiated a buyout so that Voxify could have a direct lease.

“The space fit Voxify like a glove,” says Nork. “Voxify wanted to move quickly and this plug-and-play space enabled them to do just that.”

Bioneer is new to the area. Its lease at Marina Village represented its first US presence and production facility. The company’s core business is providing genomic research solutions ranging from reagents to state-of-the-art instruments used in molecular biology. Nork says the company was attracted to Marina Village because a couple of its principals had previously leased the same space Bioneer now leases and so knew it would work well for Bioneer.

International Parking Design is an architectural/engineering firm dedicated exclusively to parking design and consulting. Nork says the company is relocating and expanding from older space at the Oakland airport. Moisen Investment Co. relocated from San Leandro.