SAN DIEGO-Private international real estate investment firm Westcore Properties has relocated and expanded its corporate headquarters here in response to vigorous growth that has seen the firm’s office and industrial portfolio top 11.6 million square feet. The company is moving to a state-of-the-art, 14,000-square-foot space at 4435 Eastgate Mall, which represents a substantial increase in size from the 9,000-square-foot space it has occupied in a neighboring building.
The new space will initially house 41 employees, with the ability to grow. In the lease, which involves a five-year term, Dave Marino of Hughes Marino represented Westcore, and landlord Sunroad Enterprises represented itself.
“We are actively growing our real estate activities, with emphasis on the acquisition of core-plus and value-add office and industrial assets in the Western US, particularly California,” says Marc Brutten, chairman of Westcore. “This move will immediately accommodate a 15% increase in our professional staff and allow for our projected growth over the next several years.”
Over the past 12 months, Westcore has expanded its support staff significantly, including the addition of several CPAs and finance professionals in our accounting department, according to Don Ankeny, president and CEO of Westcore. “We also are looking for a new vice president of acquisitions for our Northern California office and will be growing our property-management team as our portfolio increases.”
The company is aggressively growing its portfolio, as exemplified by its recent acquisition of Central Plaza, a 170,129-square-foot, three-building office, industrial and retail complex located in Union City in the East Bay for $13 million. Westcore plans to implement a number of capital improvements and upgrades to the project, which was built in 1988. It is located on a 10-acre site at 33300-33500 Alvarado Niles Rd. and 33508-33580 Central Ave., and is currently 77% leased to tenants including Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Prudential Realty and Rose Garden Restaurant.
In the Central Plaza transaction, Westcore (dba Westcore Central Avenue LLC), was represented by Mark Maguire and Kevin Hatcher of Colliers International. The seller, Central Plaza—Union City LP, was represented by Mark Melby of Kidder Mathews.
“We have a strong track record of identifying value-add properties and implementing repositioning strategies to increase their marketability,” says Neil Johnson, managing director of Westcore. “The East Bay represents an area where Westcore looks forward to increasing its presence through aggressive acquisition programs.”
As GlobeSt.com previously reported, earlier this month Westcore expanded its California focus with the opening of a new Orange County office in Irvine, headed by Johnson. Westcore also has offices in Denver and Europe, and Ankeny tells GlobeSt.com that the company has recently relocated its Northern California office from Sausalito to downtown San Francisco. The company anticipates opening an office in West Los Angeles within the next 12 to 18 months; no other office expansions have been announced at this time. Ankeny tells GlobeSt.com that the firm’s focus is on acquisitions of office and industrial properties, with a keen focus on Northern and Southern California.
“We are well-capitalized and anticipate expanding our portfolio to more than 15 million square feet over the next three to five years,” says Ankeny. “Our new space has been designed to facilitate ease of communication and integration between various departments to enhance our ability to identify and move quickly on new real estate opportunities.”
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
