The activity marked the company's 52nd year of accomplishing more than it had the year before; however, noticeably absent in all the bustle was the Bay Area, where the company owns 1.1 million sf of industrial, office and retail property.
All told, Harsch owns and operates some 14 million sf of office, retail and industrial properties and more than 2,700 multifamily housing units in seven states: Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma. Some of the key acquisitions for 2003 included the 380,000-sf Stephanie Street Power Center in Henderson NV, for $54 million; the 86,000-sf Carmel Corporate Plaza office center in San Diego, for $18 million; the 380,000-sf Valley View Industrial Center in Las Vegas, for $22 million, and; the 66,000-sf Director office building in Downtown Portland for $9.4 million. Development projects included the 135,000-sf Pavilions Shopping Center in Federal Way, WA for $25 million and the addition of 230,000 sf at the 100-acre Riverside Commerce Center development in West Sacramento for $21 million.
"We have added or developed properties in all our key markets except the Bay Area," says Schnitzer. "While we've had properties there since 1964, we've just not done as good a job as we could have and should have in the Bay Area."
To remedy that, Harsch has attracted Nancy Gille, who assumes the role of senior vice president and regional manager of the company's 50-person San Francisco office, a position that had been vacant for the better part of a year. Gille, who has about 20 years of experience in the business, has been a consultant since completing a Sloan graduate fellowship at London Business School, which she undertook after leaving Spieker Properties, where she was responsible for the San Francisco Peninsula region. Prior to that, she was a vice president with Government of Singapore Investment Corp, responsible for the acquisition and asset performance of 3 million sf in the western US and, prior to that, the asset management director for Equitable Real Estate Investment Management.
"Nancy is well known and respected in the Bay Area," says Schnitzer, "and her previous experience is perfectly suited for spearheading our existing properties in Northern California and growing the portfolio through new acquisitions and development opportunities."
Harsch is looking to add both secure investments and value-add opportunities in the $10- to $50-million range. Gille says the company has a little more appetite for industrial than anything else, "but if a story can be told about an office development or a retail opportunity, we will listen."
In addition to strategic acquisitions by both type and location, Gille will be overseeing expansion at some of the company's existing Bay Area assets. That work will include a $42-million expansion of Southshore shopping center in Alameda, a four-year project with multiple phases that will include adding space and relocating tenants en route to a complete renovation of the property. As well, she will be working on a substantial renovation of the company's 333,000-sf medical office building at 450 Sutter St. in San Francisco.
Gille replaces Peter Sotos, who left the company about nine months ago. In the interim, his duties were handled by Harsch's Seattle regional manager Scott Coombs.
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