Owners Bill and Pat White founded G & W in 1974 as a small, family-run property management business and for years focused primarily on suburban office properties and research and development space. But when the Whites' son, Matt, recently became president, the company started dabbling in development of retail, industrial, multifamily and mixed-use properties as well.

"We have been transforming into a North Bay development and acquisition firm," Matt White told GlobeSt. "Today, management is kind of insular to our primary purpose of business. With a few exceptions, we (now) manage our own property."

The name change was done to publicly acknowledge the new business model, which Matt White expects will bring in $200 million within the next two years. The changes, however, haven't sat too well with his parents. His father, Bill White, is staying on as chairman of the company, but is choosing not be involved with the company's new day-to-day business.

"It's very emotional for (my parents)," Matt White said. "The name change was very difficult for them, but they know that in today's market ... we're going to go forward or we're going to go backward. We can't stand still. We've chosen to go forward and take advantage of the opportunities."

Opportunities in development, that is. The company is building the 250,000-sf Oak Valley Business Park in Santa Rosa, Calif. The first phase is under construction and the second phase slated to start in a month. Also under way is the three-building, 120,000-sf Creekside Office Development in Napa, Calif.'s Napa Valley Gateway Business Park. Within the next three months, the firm will kick off construction on the $19 million, 90,000-sf Woodside Office Development in Novato, Calif.

Already in the family - indeed, representing a large portion of its holdings - is the 26-building Redwood Business Park in Petaluma, which sports top-credit tenants such as Cisco Systems and Nokia. "I think over the next five years, it's going to be an equal distribution between Petaluma, Santa Rosa, and Napa, with a few other properties here and there," he said. "But what we've really done is focused on the North Bay counties."