The partnership most recently acquired 1500 Newell Ave., the larger of the two sits that comprise the assemblage. The 1.3-acre site holds an eight-story, 51,343-sf office building and fronts both Newell Avenue and South Main Street. The smaller site, 0.62 acres, holds a retail strip center that fronts South Main and backs up to the creek.
The office building was sold by Sean Cooley, Mike Zylstra and Forrest Gherlone of Cornish & Carey Commercial's local office on behalf of Shaw Foundation Properties Corp., a Hong Kong-based charitable trust. The trust had owned the building since 1972, a couple of years after its completion.
The building was constructed with concrete and has a cement skin. Bank of America was the building's sole tenant during the 1970s and '80s. Cooley tells GlobeSt.com the building was multi-tenanted in the early 1990s but is currently vacant while the owners determine whether it can be retrofitted and reused. One advantage of reusing the building is its height, which at 105 feet is double the current limit, Cooley says.
The Alamo Essex JV is evaluating potential uses for the site which could include developing a boutique hotel, residences and retail. "Given the current zoning, there could be some incentive to save it," Cooley says. "If [the retrofit] requires investing a tremendous amount of money, [the question then becomes] does it make more sense to bring it up to code or bring it down [and redevelop]."
Alamo Group has revitalized several retail projects in and around Downtown Walnut Creek, including McCovey's Restaurant and Bing Crosby's Restaurant and Piano Lounge. Essex, which owns a stake in 134 apartment communities throughout the Western US, revealed the acquisitions in an SEC filing last week. The company says its partnership with Alamo is a 50-50 partnership.
"The property is a mixed-use residential/commercial site and the incorporation of the existing building into the mixed-use residential/commercial development plan is of one of the many options that will maximize the economic potential," states the filing. "Specific entitlements are expected to be obtained in the next 18 to 24 months."
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