SAN FRANCISCO-CresaPartners has named industry veteran Jeff Gagnon to head its strategic services group in the Bay Area. Based in San Francisco, the group also serves the San Jose and Palo Alto offices of CresaPartners.
As senior vice president, Gagnon will work with existing and new clients to develop comprehensive real estate strategies, including on-site occupancy planning and space management services. With more than 20 years’ experience in facilities planning, architecture, and civil engineering, Gagnon provides “solutions-based” services that align companies’ real estate portfolios with their business objectives, according to a prepared company statement.
Prior to joining CresaPartners, Gagnon was a principal at Oakland, CA-based Pacific BioFacilities, a facilities planning firm, where he served as account services manager for Genentech. In addition, while serving as a consultant in his own business and at design firms, he provided strategic planning for companies including Amgen, Gilead, and MedImmune.
Gagnon specializes in meeting the needs of high-growth companies that have technologically complex real estate portfolios regarding R&D, manufacturing, and office space. “Jeff will be a critical resource to Bay Area companies and a significant part of our growth plan,” says Craig Zodikoff, managing principal of CresaPartners in San Francisco. “He offers a unique combination of business and design perspectives, and his services will be particularly important to life sciences companies and other industries whose facilities are technologically complex and costly to operate. By reducing unnecessary vacant space and developing alternative workplace solutions or plans to optimize under-utilized assets, our strategic services group can save millions of dollars in operating costs for offices and labs.”
According to Gagnon, more companies are turning to strategic planning professionals as a way to cut portfolio costs and also respond to cultural and technological changes at the workplace. “Many companies are dealing with a new generation of younger, tech-savvy employees, and they are finding that new technology is making it easier for staff to work in virtual offices,” says Gagnon. “They are also discovering that their present footprint often is not efficient, so they are turning to strategic planners to develop creative solutions.”
Gagnon says his group’s work typically involves needs assessment, options development, and long-range capital planning on the front end, followed by brokerage and project management to implement the strategy on the back end.
“Companies are advised to partner with real estate service advisors that offer a full complement of integrated corporate services, including strategic planning, project management, and facilities management,” says Mike Michaels, principal of CresaPartners in San Jose. “We plan to build our Strategic Services Group as a key part of this equation as we represent more and more companies in the Bay Area, the Valley, and beyond.”
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Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
