OAKLAND — A downtown Oakland office building that’s nearly a century old has landed a buyer from Silicon Valley, a sign of ongoing investment interest in the urban core of the East Bay’s largest city.
An office building at 1504 Franklin St. has been bought by an affiliate controlled by Bullock Capital, according to documents filed on March 18 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office.
Menlo Park-based Bullock Capital paid $13.6 million for the office building, the county property records show.
The building is two stories and was built in 1923, then renovated in 2018. The building is at the corner of Franklin Street and 15th Street.
“We are super excited to acquire 1504 Franklin, a Class A office and retail building in the heart of downtown Oakland,” said Ben Bullock, a principal executive with Bullock Capital. “While the office utilization landscape evolving post-COVID, people will return to the office in some form.”
Bullock Capital also obtained a loan of $10.5 million from Northern Trust Co. to help finance the purchase of the office building this month, according to the county public documents.
“Headlines have been focused on companies giving back space and work-from-home,” Bullock said in an email to this news organization. “We are big believers that people are yearning for connection and community while being able to maintain a work-life balance.”
The seller, a group of investors headed up by Menlo Park real estate executive Douglas Morss, harvested at least a modest profit from the property sale.
Soon after the Morss-led group of investors bought the building in 2016, the property had an assessed value of $3.9 million, county assessment records show. The assessed value in the year after a property purchase typically is close to the transaction price. The amount the Morss-led group paid wasn’t disclosed in 2016.
In 2018, the Morss group obtained $8.25 million in financing at the time of the renovation. The loan in 2018, combined with the estimated purchase price, puts the selling group’s investment in the property at around $12 million.
Brokers Aileen Dolby and Will Cliff with Colliers, a commercial real estate firm, helped to arrange the property purchase.
The renovations and unique architecture in the building have transformed the property into a top-line creative office space, according to Colliers.
“1504 Franklin offered the buyer the opportunity to acquire a premier Class A creative office property in downtown Oakland,” said Cliff, a Colliers vice president. The building is “fully renovated to high-quality creative standards,” Cliff added.
The just-bought office building also features a mezzanine level, three sides of natural light and 18 skylights, according to Colliers.
“1504 Franklin is well-positioned to accommodate tenants that are either growing their business or re-evaluating their workplace needs and desire a smaller standalone building rather than a larger space as part of an office tower,” Bullock said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com