East Bay Office Complex Fetches $162M in Record-Breaking Sale
It was the largest West Coast multi-tenant office sale since 2022.
Clarion Partners has sold a 362,399-square-foot office complex property in the San Francisco East Bay region for $162 million.
According to Newmark, which represented the investment company, it was the “largest multi-tenant office sale on the West Coast since 2022.”
Known as the The Plaza at Walnut Creek, the property consists of two buildings and is located at 1331 and 1333 North California Boulevard. The muli-tenant units led the San Francisco East Bay market in the last half-decade with an occupancy of 91 percent and it was 93 percent leased, as of the time of the sale. Plus, the asset comes with an underground parking garage. Over 38,000 vehicles pass by The Plaza at Walnut each day, according to Newmark.
Major amenity centers are nearby including Main Street Plaza, Broadway Plaza, Plaza Escuela, and Olympia Place.
The buyer was not disclosed.
“This property presented investors with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire a top performing asset in the region. Despite general pullbacks in occupancy and rental rates in the office sector, The Plaza at Walnut Creek has bucked the trend and recorded meaningful occupancy and rental rate gains since 2019,” Steven Golubchik, executive vice chairman and president of western region capital markets for Newmark, said in a statement.
“The marketing processes generated some of the strongest investor interest we have seen in the last three years, providing ownership with a wide range of potential suitors including both foreign and state pension and core-plus office capital.”
The move builds on Clarion sales activity, as of late. In September, the firm sold an Arizona rental community for $187.5 million to Weidner Apartment Homes. The deal was “the largest single asset multifamily sale in Arizona in over two years,” according to the broker, Institutional Property Advisors.
Currently, office properties are continuing to sell at discounts versus pre-pandemic levels. However, it’s been a mixed bag for San Francisco performance with the asset class. For example, the city hosted the second most expensive national market for office in the third quarter, with average asking rents of $67.33 per square foot, according to a Commercial Edge report. That said, vacancies jumped 350 basis points to 27.8 percent.