Barker Pacific, Rockwood Buy Rowland Plaza

NOVATO, CA-Rowland Plaza, a 168,000-square-foot office and retail development here has changed hands for approximately $20 million. The new owner is a JV of Los Angeles-based real estate developer Barker Pacific Group and Rockwood Capital LLC, a real estate private equity firm. The seller was Multi-Employer Property Trust, an Alexandria, VA-based union benefit fund (aka Taft-Hartley Fund) whose investments are managed by Seattle-based Kennedy Associates Real Estate Counsel.

Built in the mid-1990s and located adjacent to Vintage Oaks Shopping Center, Rowland Plaza is comprised of three buildings–two steel-frame low-rise office buildings, one 80,159 square feet and the other 63,793 square feet, and a 24,120-square-foot retail building. The office space is 72% leased and the retail is 100% leased. Overall office market vacancy is in the low 20% range.

The retail is leased solely to Staples Inc. Major office tenants include the City of Novato, 21,340 square feet; Braden Partners LP, dba Pacific Pulmonary Services, 21,850 square feet; Prieston Group, fraud insurance, 14,000 square feet; Marin County, 13,325 square feet; and Rosenthal & Co., class-action settlement administration, 13,000 square feet.