Here's a good-news story in an otherwise grim commercial real estate market:
Two new Jackson Properties' buildings on University Avenue near Howe Avenue are filling up. At rents close to pre-recession levels.
The latest development is Molina Health Care signing a lease for 8,700 square feet at 300 University Ave. for its legal and lobbying departments.
It will join national financial planning firm R.W. Baird & Co., which recently opened its first Sacramento office in the LEED-certified building. Together, the two tenants are occupying about 75 percent of the 22,000-square-foot building.
Across the street at 301 University, brokerage company Colliers International is set to move in next month, taking 23,000 of the building's 35,000 square feet.
All tenants are paying close to $2.50 a square foot – above the market average though "not commensurate with our costs," says developer John Jackson Jr.
The leasing activity would be "no great shakes in normal times," says Colliers' Ron Thomas, who is part of a team leasing the two buildings.
But in today's climate? Getting quality tenants with long-term leases at rates above the market average?
"That's pretty rare," Thomas says.
Alley ups
Alley developer Jeremy Drucker is selling homes – before construction has even begun on them.
The head of the "Stitch" project, which aims to build alley-facing condos on the back ends of deep residential lots, reports he's sold a studio unit – for $260,000 – in the Stitch model complex to be built in the alley between 17th and 18th and L and Capitol.
(That description clearly shows the need to name alleys.)
And he's taken a reservation for a larger unit, at a price of $360,000, to be built behind the home at 2216 L St.
The first complex will be completed in the spring and will serve as a model for two years. (The first buyer – a downtown attorney – is in no hurry to occupy his unit.) The L Street complex is set to be completed next summer.
Drucker says the early sales show strong demand for affordable housing in midtown. "Of the projects that are fallow, none is in the central city," he says.
Those looking to sell portions of their lots to Stitch or seeking more information on condo units can go to www.stitch-space.com. Or send an e-mail to yimby@stitch-space.com. Yimby? It stands for "Yes In My Backyard."
Fond memories
Tributes are pouring in for Jean Runyon, the one-of-a-kind PR woman who passed away last weekend.
So many people have memories of how Jean took on pro bono causes, befriended newcomers, made everyone feel special.
Their stories are being collected on the Web site – www.rs-e.com – of her company, Runyon Saltzman & Einhorn. The goal: Gather hundreds of tributes and anecdotes and present them in book form to Jean's family, says Runyon's longtime business partner Estelle Saltzman.
On the site is an old Bee cartoon depicting a witch – a reference to Jean's penchant for dressing up on Halloween, climbing to the roof of her home, cackling and throwing goodies to trick-or-treaters.
The apt cartoon caption: "Old witches never die – they just fly away."
Reach Bob Shallit at (916) 321-1049. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/shallit.
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