Birtcher Anderson Realty

San Francisco Offices Sell for $17.2Mln

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 -Birtcher Anderson Realty has paid $17.15 million for a three-building office-flex property in San Francisco.

The San Juan Capistrano, Calif., invesmtent firm purchased the 134,444-square-foot property at 1740, 1750 and 1760 Cesar Chavez Street from a local group, Portrero Business Center LLC, which was represented by GVA Whitney Cressman of San Francisco. Birtcher Anderson was represented by GVA Daum Commercial of Newport Beach, Calif.

The property marks the first investment in Northern California for Birtcher, which focuses its activities in Southern California and other select Western markets.

The property it acquired, Portrero Business Center, was constructed in 1986 and is 95 percent occupied by 14 tenants, including Aramark Inc. and Graybar Electric Co. It is just off the I-280 freeway and a mile from Highway 101.

The San Francisco office market has improved dramatically, with vacancy dropping to 14.2 percent at the end of the first quarter from 19.4 percent a year earlier, according to Reis Inc. Rents, as a result, are starting to climb. At the end of the first quarter, asking rents hit $31.16/sf, up from $28.85/sf a year ago.

Very little office space has been constructed in the past year - Reis lists a mere 33,000 sf as being completed last year. Meanwhile, Birtcher Anderson says that some 3 million sf of commercial space in the city has been converted to residential use over the past four years.

# # #