Oakland Creative Office Property Trades Hands

Bullock Capital has acquired a 27,440-square-foot creative office property in Downtown Oakland from SpringTide Franklin LLC. The sales price was not disclosed, but sources unrelated to the deal report that the property traded hands for $15 million.

Located at 1504 Franklin Street, the property was fully renovated in 2018 with top-to-bottom improvements that include seismic upgrade, new building systems, tech-drive building security and high-end creative finishes. The property features abundant natural light with 18 skylights throughout the property, and 2,000 square feet of ground floor retail. At the time of the sale, the two-story building was 81% leased and anchored by Comfy | Enlightened, a Siemens Real Estate subsidiary.

Colliers brokers Will Cliff and Aileen Dolby represented the seller in the transaction, and said that the sale was a good illustration of demand returning to the office sector. Last year, Oakland outperformed neighboring San Francisco, according to research from Marcus & Millichap. Before the pandemic, many companies priced out of the San Francisco market moved to the East Bay, but many of them, according to the report, were not able to transition to a remote-work model during the pandemic. As a result, those businesses stayed in-office, curtailing the vacancy issues that created a significant challenge for office owners in San Francisco.

The activity has supported office investment in the market, despite the heightened uncertainty. In one of the most significant deals this year, Rubicon Point Partners acquired the Rotunda Building in Oakland from Rotunda Partners II. The 300,000-square-foot office building is know as the Crown Jewel of Oakland and one of the best examples of Beaux-Arts architecture. Rubicon plans to revitalize the property and implement a sustainability plan to reduce the property’s carbon footprint. As part of the revitalization, Rubicon will launch a work-from-here program with amenities that are not available in a home-office environment. The amenities include a fitness center, common areas and collaboration infrastructure to accommodate a hybrid workforce.