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Articles by Jack Rogers
Investment Group Buys Multifamily Buildings in Supply Strained California Market
Three contiguous garden-style legacy multifamily buildings totaling 59 units on Bellomy Street in Santa Clara, California, have traded for $18 million. Levin Johnston, a brokerage unit of Marcus & Millichap, arranged the sale of these properties on behalf of Marymount Place LLC to a local investment group focused on value-add acquisitions, listed as Bellomy St Portfolio LLC. These assets are located in a supply-constrained market.
San Diego Unveils Sweeping Mixed-Use Plan for Civic Center Redo
Local civic leaders working with an urban planning consultant have unveiled an ambitious plan to redevelop six blocks of city-owned real estate into a mixed-use hub with a “world-class” public space in the heart of downtown San Diego. The sweeping plan envisions a redo of the city’s Civic Center into an arts and educational hub that will include thousands of residential units in multiple high-rises, as well as shops, restaurants and a hotel, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Nvidia’s Property Binge Continues with $123M Santa Clara Buy
As its market cap approaches $3 trillion, AI chip titan Nvidia continues to grow its Silicon Valley real estate footprint exponentially. Last week, the company added a 10-building, 13-acre business park on the south side of Walsh Avenue in Santa Clara in an all-cash deal for $123 million, SiliconValley.com reported. The property, located on San Tomas Expressway across from Nvidia’s main headquarters, is 251,000 square feet and includes offices and flex warehouse space.
San Francisco Industrial, Multifamily Owners Now Need to Screen Buildings for Seismic Risk
The owners of thousands of concrete buildings in San Francisco will be required to undertake seismic screenings to determine whether their structures are at risk of collapsing during a major earthquake. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that a preliminary survey using public records, old insurance maps, and street-level images estimates the city may have up to 4,000 concrete buildings.
PCCP Grabs Oakland Apartment Portfolio at 40% Discount
A private equity giant with more than $25B of assets under management has scooped up a portfolio of eight apartment complexes in Oakland for 40% less than the total assessed value of the property a year ago. Los Angeles-based PCCP purchased the eight assets, located near Lake Merritt and Interstate 580, for $62.8M from affiliates of Veritas, The Mercury News reported.
U.S.'s First Wildfire 'Resilient' Housing Project Debuts in San Diego County
In the fire-prone hills of northern San Diego County, KB Home has completed a grand opening for its Dixon Trail development, a project in Escondido that the home-building giant is marketing as the first purpose-built “wildfire resilient neighborhood” in the United States. About half of what eventually will be 64 homes have been finished in the project. The foundation of every house is surrounded by a moat of gravel. Privacy fences are made from brown-tinted steel.
San Francisco Retail Hub is Reviving Even as Another Big Store Exits
San Francisco’s Union Square is losing another large flagship store as an increasing number of smaller store openings signal the beginning of a recovery in the city’s downtown retail hub. Saks Fifth Avenue is closing its store at 384 Post Street on May 10, less than a year after switching to an appointment-only format when safety issues proliferated in the neighborhood.
Bay Area Developer Tapped to Plan Valero Refinery Redo
Another huge oil refinery is preparing to close in California, freeing up 900 acres in Solano County for potential redevelopment. In fact, Valero is planning to shut down its Benicia refinery in April 2026, just a few months after Phillips 66’s Los Angeles refinery closes in the fourth quarter of 2025. Valero has tapped Oakland-based Signature Development Group to evaluate redevelopment opportunities for the Benicia refinery property, SiliconValley.com reported.
Population Rebound Spurs Plan for New Housing in San Francisco
San Francisco’s housing needs are increasing thanks to a surge in international residents as a pandemic-era exodus ends. Out-migration from the city has dropped by 90% since 2020-2021, when it peaked as the city lost 6.7% of its population and 57,525 residents, primarily to the Sun Belt or outlying California communities.
Housing Boom in San Mateo Sparks Debate Over Renter Protections
As San Mateo clears the way for a bevy of projects that it needs to meet its state-mandated goal for new housing, groups representing landlords are fighting a proposal to expand renter protections in the city. After voters approved Measure T last fall, allowing taller residential buildings near the Caltrain route and along El Camino Real and Highway 101, developers submitted eight housing projects encompassing nearly 3,200 new homes.
Building Permits for Housing in Los Angeles Drops by 57%
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Blackstone, DivcoWest Make First $100M-Plus San Francisco Office Bet in Post-Pandemic World
Blackstone and DivcoWest are paying $111M to acquire a vacant 25-story office tower in downtown San Francisco, the first investment sale within the asset class the city has seen with a price tag of more than $100M in the post-pandemic era. The 420,000-square-foot building at 199 Fremont Street, located next to Salesforce Park, will be rebranded as 300 Howard Street.
Power Players are Betting on San Francisco Apartments Again
At the end of last year, San Francisco remained the only major market of nearly 70 tracked by CBRE in which residential rents had not recovered to their pre-pandemic levels. Now, with rents flattening and vacancies rising in over-supplied Sun Belt markets, San Francisco’s recovering multifamily sector is looking like a good bet for investors with deep pockets.
San Francisco Office Sales Heat Up as Distressed Towers Go on Market
Investors are betting that an emerging recovery in a market that bottomed at the end of last year will yield a solid return. Financial District office towers currently are fetching an average of about $310 per square foot, far below the pre-pandemic average of $800 per square foot.
Solano County Cities Ink Deal to Annex California Forever Land
Two of the smallest areas in Solano County have entered a memorandum of understanding with California Forever to annex land owned by the billionaire-backed initiative that plans to build a new city between San Francisco and Sacramento.
San Diego Bans Use of Multifamily Rent-Setting Algorithms
San Diego has become the latest city to ban revenue management software that uses algorithms to advise landlords on pricing their rentals based on private data collected and avoid competition with other multifamily owners and operators.
Nuveen and Preiss Make Largest Student Housing Portfolio Sale Year-to-Date
A joint venture consisting of Nuveen and The Preiss Company is selling five student housing properties in the Sunbelt. The portfolio takes up 3,693 total beds across 1,248 units. According to Newmark, which brokered the deal on behalf of the JV, the sale marks the largest deal to take place in the alternative asset class in the country in 2025 so far. The units are spread across four states including North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, and Florida.
California Mulls Statewide Tax on Vacant Commercial Properties
California may become the first state in the nation to impose a statewide tax on vacant commercial properties. Senate Bill 789 would impose a $5-per-square-foot annual tax on buildings that remain empty for 182 or more days, whether consecutive or nonconsecutive, in the calendar year. The bill was introduced by Sen. Caroline Menjiver, who represents Burbank and the San Fernando Valley.
Nonprofit Grabs San Diego Office Tower at $108M Discount
A private San Diego-based philanthropic organization has purchased the Wells Fargo Plaza tower in a $40M cash deal from the Irvine Company, which bought the 24-story downtown office building in 2004 for more than $148M. The Prebys Foundation, which has more than $1B in assets, characterized the acquisition as an investment in a revival of San Diego’s downtown business district, which is struggling with record-high office vacancy rates.
Industrial Absorption Plunges to Near 10-Year Low in Central Valley
The industrial market in California’s Central Valley has undergone a turnaround in net absorption, dropping from its highest positive level since the warehouse boom of 2022 at the beginning of the year to nearly the lowest level in the past 10 years. The category sank to more than minus 1M square feet in Central Valley in the first quarter, down from the fourth quarter’s positive tally of nearly 3M square feet, according to a report from CBRE.
Office Vacancy Rate Keeps Rising in Los Angeles
The office vacancy rate in Los Angeles continues to rise, setting another historic high at 24.2% at the end of the first quarter, with an overall availability rate of nearly 30%. Negative net absorption plummeted to minus 1,084,423 square feet due to persistent soft tenant demand. At the same time, average direct asking rates remained flat at $3.99 full-service gross (FSG), according to CBRE’s latest office market report for Greater Los Angeles (GLA).
Office Vacancy Rate Keeps Rising in Los Angeles
The office vacancy rate in Los Angeles continues to rise, setting another historic high at 24.2% at the end of the first quarter, with an overall availability rate of nearly 30%. Negative net absorption plummeted to minus 1,084,423 square feet due to persistent soft tenant demand. At the same time, average direct asking rates remained flat at $3.99 full-service gross (FSG), according to CBRE’s latest office market report for Greater Los Angeles (GLA).
Oakland Hotels Keep Falling Like Dominoes
The 276-room downtown hotel, located at 1431 Jefferson Street, was handed over to lender Cook Children’s Health Care Services following a deed in lieu of foreclosure filed with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office. Beverly Hills-based Hawkins Way Capital built the 18-story hotel, which opened in 2022, with a $112M loan from a unit of Goldman Sachs. In 2023, Goldman transferred the loan to Texas-based Cook, a nonprofit whose operations include a children’s hospital in Fort Worth. Recommended For You
Industrial Demand Catching Up to Supply in Inland Empire
The Inland Empire’s industrial market is exhibiting a healthier balance between supply and demand, with strong leasing activity across all size ranges and positive net absorption totaling nearly 3.6M square feet across the IE East and IE West submarkets in the three months of the year. These strong fundamentals pushed the overall vacancy rate down to 6.6% in Q1 2025, the first decline in the category since the third quarter of 2022, CBRE reported.
Tech Deals Lead San Francisco Office Leasing to 10-Year High
The Return to Office: Recovery Still Underway Are you noticing unexpected shifts in office occupancy and commuter behavior? This report reveals how evolving work patterns are challenging CRE brokers and offers crucial, data-backed insights for 2025. Discover a detailed analysis of office visit fluctuations, an in-depth look at midweek work trends, accurate forecasts for market recovery, real-world examples to inform strategic decisions, and actionable metrics to guide client advising.
Los Angeles Ports Brace for Impact of Trade War
The Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex, which handles about a third of the nation’s container shipments, is expected to be hard hit by the escalating trade war between the U.S. and its trading partners. Anticipation of President Trump’s tariffs spurred a rush of imports that pushed cargo volumes to record levels at the San Pedro Bay ports in November as companies loaded up on goods.
BioMed Realty Buys Pfizer’s San Diego Office Campus for $255M
BioMed Realty has made a big long-term bet on demand in San Diego’s life science sector with a $255M acquisition of Pfizer’s sprawling research campus in the city. The five-building office complex, located on Science Center Drive in the Torrey Pines neighborhood of La Jolla, encompasses nearly 631,000 square feet. The buildings at the complex opened between 1998 and 2004. Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive: Already have an account? Sign In Now *May exclude premium content
BioMed Realty Buys Pfizer’s San Diego Office Campus for $255M
Special Report Instant Insights Falcon Edit Post News Blackstone unit’s deal for 631,000-square-foot complex bets on long-term life science demand. By Jack Rogers | April 07, 2025 at 08:18 AM BioMed Realty has made a big long-term bet on demand in San Diego’s life science sector with a $255M acquisition of Pfizer’s sprawling research campus in the city.
Huge East Bay Federal Building to Go on Selling Block
Special Report Instant Insights Falcon Edit Post News GSA adds Frank Hagel Building to the offload list in an area where an office traded at a 70% discount. By Jack Rogers | April 04, 2025 at 08:22 AM The Bay Area is back on the list of locations where the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is planning to offload major federal office buildings.
JPMorgan Asset Management Aims for $10B Net Lease Platform
JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM), the New York-based asset management arm of JPMorgan Chase, jumped into the net lease space at the end of 2023 with its acquisition of Trio Investment Group, a sale-leaseback investment firm with about $250M in assets under management. JPMAM, which now has a portfolio of about 100 properties, has turbocharged its acquisitions activity with a goal of growing its net lease business to $10B over the next five years.
From Networking to Keynotes, RETCON 2025 Underscores the Future of Real Estate
I recently had the pleasure of attending RETCON (as their hosted media guest). For those who might not know, RETCON is one of the industry’s leading real estate innovation conferences, which unites together some of the country’s top owners, operators, developers, investors, media, PropTech startups, and technology & service providers together.
Homer and Kiewit Partner to Build Nation's Largest AI Gas Powered Data Center
The site, formerly known as the Homer City Generating Station, will take up more than 3,200 acres, with the natural gas coming from the Marcellus Shale region. Some perks of the project include 4.5 gigawatts to power AI data centers (which is forecasted to trim greenhouse gas emissions by up to 65 percent per megawatt hour), serving multiple customers with data centers, and powering thousands of homes.
Office and Retail Converting to Schools in Santa Monica
Thousands of K-12 students will occupy more than 200,000 square feet of space in Santa Monica, the Los Angeles Times reported. “It wasn’t on my bingo card this year to be doing school leases, but here I am. You roll with the times,” said Alex Cameron, Los Angeles regional director at BXP, which has welcomed Village School and Seven Arrows Elementary School to two of its Santa Monica properties.
CRE Must Adjust to an Era of Higher Rates and Shift Focus
f you’re an investor counting on the traditional action and reaction of cap rates, capital flows and interest rates to land on the sweet spot of cap rate compression, Spencer Levy wants you to know that the world has changed. “The focus on capital markets and believing you could control the numbers, that data analysis was everything, this was right until five years ago,” Levy, CBRE’s chief economist, declared in a keynote presentation at GlobeSt.’s net lease conference in NYC on Wednesday.
Economists Predict Q1 GDP Growth Slows to 0.3% Amid Tariff Pressures
A survey of 14 economists’ forecasts by CNBC suggests that GDP growth in the just-ended first quarter of 2025 would be only 0.3%, a huge slowdown from the end of 2024. The participants also thought that Core PCE inflation, the metric favored over CPI by the Federal Reserve, would stay around 2.9% for the rest of the year. The forecasts come after falling consumer and business sentiment and weakening consumer spending, which represents 69% of GDP.
Amid Economic Uncertainty, CRE Investors Are Urged to Think Long Term
“Normally, I couldn't tell you what I was doing five years ago, but this week, I actually do know,” said Chang in a research video. “I was transitioning to a whole new world. My entire team was shifting to working from home as the COVID outbreak hit like a tidal wave.” Chang said the world has faced some of the most extreme uncertainty and disruption during the past five years, yet the commercial real estate market has remained a relatively strong investment option.
D.C. Tops Rental Activity Rankings for Fifth Straight Month
Washington, D.C., continued to top RentCafe’s list of top markets for rental activity in February, retaining the spot it has held for five consecutive months. The ranking is based on online listing browsing and favoriting properties on RentCafe.com. The nation’s capital had a 66% increase in favorited listings, indicating that prospective renters are weighing their options very carefully before deciding on an apartment that fits their criteria, according to the report.
Blocked Kroger-Albertsons Deal Fails to Slow Grocery M&A Boom
When the Federal Trade Commission blocked the high-profile proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons, it might have seemed like a significant blow to the grocery industry’s ambitions. Yet, the sector proved resilient, with other players stepping in to drive growth and transformation. Aldi emerged as the undisputed leader in U.S. grocery expansion in 2024, opening 105 new stores and adding over 2.3 million square feet of retail space, according to a JLL analysis of the sector.
Prologis Leverages Private Capital for Global Expansion and Fee Income
Falcon Edit Post Analysis It generates fee income that enables a ‘much larger portfolio around the globe.’ By Erik Sherman | April 03, 2025 at 04:54 AM Prologis has been on a tear since the presidential election. “In our business, the bottoming process across our markets continues to progress,” said Chief Financial Officer Timothy Arndt in the January earnings call for 2024 Q4.
PGIM Raises $2B From Data Center Fund Planning to Deploy 'Build-Fill-Sell' Strategy
The goal of the fund is to use a "build-fill-sell" strategy, so it could maximize returns, according to a statement from PGIM. The investments will focus on hyperscale low-latency data centers through multiple global regions including Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. "The Global Data Center Fund strategy creates value through asset-level development joint ventures with leading data center operators.
Tariffs Add Financial Pressure to Projects from Steel and Lumber to Bond Markets
There are obvious concerns, such as increased construction costs or additional financial pressure on retailers or multifamily tenants from higher business or living expenses. “For office conversions, tariffs may add another layer of complexity and cost, potentially making them a financial no-go,” Roger Yang, U.S. industry leader in building, construction, and real estate for KPMG U.S., tells GlobeSt.com.
Judge Clears Path for GSA to Acquire USIP’s Prime D.C. Headquarters at No Cost
US district judge Beryl Howell effectively allowed the transfer of the headquarters building in a decision Tuesday, WIRED reported. The building is in a prime D.C. location near the Potomac River and the National Mall. Tensions at USIP have been building since the Trump administration fired the agency’s 10 voting board members in March.
Private Equity Giants Poised to Swallow Multifamily REITs
According to Willy Walker, CEO of Walker & Dunlop, these impending acquisitions may rival in size and scope Blackstone’s $13B all-cash transaction in 2022, when the firm swallowed student housing REIT American Campus Communities and its portfolio of 166 properties in 71 university markets. “There’s obviously a big push toward deregulation, but M&A activity hasn’t really picked up that much,” Walker said, during a keynote presentation at GlobeSt.’s spring multifamily event in NYC on Tuesday.
Sunbelt Needs Time to Digest Multifamily Oversupply
Special Report Instant Insights Falcon Edit Post Event It may take a year or two to absorb deliveries and burn off concessions. By Jack Rogers | April 02, 2025 at 04:21 AM Multifamily occupancy levels are solid and the fundamentals are pointing to rent growth for many metros outside of the Sunbelt, a region that is having trouble digesting a tidal wave of deliveries in the past year.
Americans Now Need Over $116,000 Annually to Afford a Median-Priced Home
Within just five years, the annual household income needed to buy a typical median-priced home in the U.S. has almost doubled, from $78,236 to $116,986, according to a new analysis from Bankrate. And while that figure is lower in some states, it is a reality in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Five years ago, just six states and DC fell into this category.
CRE Lending Sees Rebound in Originations But Office Defaults Surge
A recent Trepp research paper examined bank CRE loan performance in the last quarter of 2024. It was a good, bad, and kind of in between theme, with rising originations, mounting office challenges, and a mixed outlook for multifamily. Trepp analyzed trends in its anonymized set of loan-level data.
Gen AI Driving Co-Living Boom in San Francisco
The generative AI boom in San Francisco is driving a revival of co-living spaces and 100-square-foot rentals with shared kitchens and bathrooms that are being offered for $1,000 per month. The pandemic nearly crushed what had been a growing co-living industry of “tech dorms” in San Francisco as tech workers fled the city and few people wanted to share kitchens or bathrooms during the outbreak. Several leading companies in the sector filed for bankruptcy, including San Francisco-based Starcity.
How Affordable Developers Can Overcome Challenges of Government Spending Shifts
The seismic shift in the new administration’s approach to government spending, and its impact on the way we do business, has been monumental to say the least. While affordable housing remains a bipartisan issue everyone seems apt to support, stakeholders in the multifamily residential space, particularly developers who rely upon federal funding, and HUD by proxy, are already starting to feel the effects of programmatic and budget cuts. Going, Going, Gone....
Lawsuit Blocking Housing in Fire-Prone Area of San Diego County is Settled
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has announced a settlement with developer Baldwin & Sons of a lawsuit filed in 2020 by several environmental groups and joined by the state to block Otay Ranch Village 13, a massive housing project planned for an unincorporated, fire-prone area of San Diego County.
Silicon Valley Offices Trading at Massive Discounts
Special Report Instant Insights Falcon Edit Post News With trades seeing discounts of up to 75%, sellers slash asking prices for prime, but empty properties. By Jack Rogers | March 28, 2025 at 08:12 AM While a surge in office leasing signals that a recovery is emerging in Silicon Valley’s office market, sales prices for recent office trades indicate that valuations are still trailing the bottom.
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