Ed Del Beccaro, managing partner of the Walnut Creek office, does offer a glimmer of hope, and he tells GlobeSt.com that, with healthy levels of interest expressed in the market, the office corridor is expected to land softly during this economic slowdown.
Overall office vacancies for North I-680, an area that includes Walnut Creek, Concord, Alamo, Danville, Lafayette, Orinda and Moraga, are 5.8%, up from 4.1% at the end of 2000. Del Beccaro adds that asking rates are $2.60 per sf fully serviced as compared with $2.42 per foot fully serviced at the end of 2000.
"This is due in large part to our region not relying on high-tech firms," says Del Beccaro. "Instead, the corridor has continued to seek a mix of old-economy, business and financial-service companies in addition to high-tech companies. What that means to a tenant seeking space is that they have choices."
Del Beccaro notes that the asking rates in the area are still well above the asking rates of three years ago. "Downtown Walnut Creek, while not at its peak of $3.60 per sf to $4.75 per sf for class A space at the end of 2000, is still seeing rates of $3.50 per sf to $4.50 per sf fully serviced," he says. "Because we don't have many dot-coms here we did not experience the same glut San Francisco and Silicon Valley may be experiencing now."
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