Behind The Deal: What Drove Goldman Sachs’ Decision To Buy In Oakland

“In early July, GSAM PRE in a JV with HP Investors closed a deal for 1300 Broadway, a 58K SF historic office building in Downtown Oakland.”

Joseph Sumberg has witnessed a significant shift in Oakland’s office market. New offices are changing the downtown skyline and thousands of multifamily units are in the pipeline, many of which are right along the Bay Area Rapid Transit line. These dynamics made buying another asset in Oakland a no-brainer for the co-head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Real Estate.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Real Estate co-head Joe Sumberg “From our initial plan to enter in 2015 to today, we’ve really seen a very aggressive transformation within the Oakland market,” Sumberg said.“It is a real 24/7 environment. The ingredients have always been there for Oakland, but in this cycle they’re all coming together to create something transformative.”

In early July, GSAM PRE in a JV with HP Investors closed a deal for 1300 Broadway, a 58K SF historic office building in Downtown Oakland. The purchase price was $26.5M ($457/SF), according to the San Francisco Business Times.

While not the biggest office deal of the year for the Greater Oakland office market — the current record-holder is CBRE Global Investors’ $171M buy of an Emeryville tower — it signals a definitive shift in institutional investor attitude.

Oakland’s office market has become so competitive, investors such as GSAM PRE are looking more aggressively into boutique and small office assets. GSAM PRE lucked out in that this latest purchase was off-market and didn’t have to go through a competitive bidding process, he said.

Sumberg doesn’t mind going after these smaller assets with more character — he prefers it and sees these offices as unique from the new supply being added throughout Oakland, the Bay Area and the nation. In prime markets, buildings with character are critical, he said.

“We are actively targeting well-located, differentiated assets in fundamentally strong markets that we believe will be attractive to tenants, and we believe this investment is just that,” Sumberg said.

New Development Attracting More Interest

Oakland’s office market will become more competitive among investors and tenants as more opportunities are created to live and work in the area. CIM Group is selling about $1B in assets in Downtown…

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Reprinted via Bisnow
Photo Credit: Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Real Estate