Commercial Real Estate: Novato office building sells to LRG Capital for nearly $6 million

<p>LRG Capital of Larkspur purchased a 26,750-square-foot fully occupied office building in Novato in mid-August for $5.85 million, or $228 a square foot. The listed price was $6.35 million.</p><p>LRG, led by Larry Goldfarb, purchased the 30-year-old, two-story class B building at 384 Bel Marin Keys Blvd. from Buckley Real Estate of Novato.</p><p>“It was well-maintained,” noted Marcus & Millichap’s Chris Economou, who represented Buckley. “The previous owner put a lot of money into the building in the last few years.” Key tenants are health care services provider McKesson Corp., the largest at 8,800 square feet, and wealth consultants LiveOutLoud.</p><p>LRG represented itself in the sale.</p><p>***</p><p>Madison Marquette Retail Services is replacing the 22-year-old McDonald’s fast-food restaurant location in Corte Madera Town Center mall with the first North Bay location for The Counter, a new chain of boutique build-your-own burger bistros. The Southern California-based chain has three other Bay Area locations and six others in the state.</p><p>“The Counter brings more food diversity to Central Marin, and its replacement of McDonald’s symbolizes the evolution of the quick-service food industry,” noted Rhonda Diaz of Terranomics Retail Services who represented Redwood City-based Counter Intelligence LLC, the Northern California developer for the chain. “Fast-casual food concepts are going more organic and sustainable, along with offering higher-quality ingredients.”</p><p>At The Counter, that means hormone-free Angus ground beef and other premium toppings. A third-pound cooked-weight burger with four toppings and sauces starts at $7.50, according to Counter Intelligence partner Peter Katz.</p><p>The first store opened in Santa Monica in 2003, and the concept was franchised three years later.</p><p>Counter Intelligence has opened locations near Stanford University, in Santana Row in San Jose and a new location in Walnut Creek. Restaurants in Corte Madera and Roseville are set to open by year end, according to Mr. Katz. Locations in Sonoma and Napa counties are planned for coming years.</p><p>***</p><p>The Bakers Square restaurant building at 1350 Farmers Lane in east Santa Rosa, one of 56 stores the Denver-based chain closed nationwide in early April, was sold to Park/Gibbs Development Co. LLC, a 15-year-old Newport Beach developer of retail, residential and mixed-use projects. Steve Park and Kurt Gibbs’ last North Bay project was the Community First Credit Union corner retail center at College and Mendocino avenues.</p><p>Motivating the $1.75 million price paid, or $342 a square foot, for the 5,100-square-foot freestanding building was ample parking, an average of 45,000 vehicles passing the site daily, a nearby traffic signal and close proximity to Highway 12, according to NAI BT Commercial’s Paul Schwartz, who represented Robert Frugoli, a local investor who purchased the property in 2005. Comparing the transaction to others is difficult, he said.</p><p>“How often do you find a free-standing restaurant on a major street in Santa Rosa for sale?” he asked.</p><p>Paul Gonzalez and Rich Fenske of NAI BT represented Park/Gibbs and are handling leasing the 39-year-old building. Bakers Square was paying about $1.50 a square foot triple-net in rent when comparable retail properties are fetching $2.75 to $3.25 a square foot, according to Mr. Schwartz. Park/Gibbs plans to renovate the building.</p><p>Prospective buyers and tenants for the building had been looking to put a bank or other retail uses in the building, but the building likely will be another restaurant because of the difficulty in getting such use permits these days, according to Mr. Schwartz.</p><p>***</p><p>Retired operating engineer Don Cowdrey, 69, and inventor Gary Gibbs, 73, earlier this summer launched a product intended to help protect building and engineering drawings from wind, rain and sun at the jobsite. Aptly named Bag o’ Plans (www.bagoplans.com), it’s simply a flexible plastic sleeve into which the large-format pages are loaded and viewed through clear plastic film in a scroll-like fashion by turning spindles at each end. The apparatus can be folded into the size of a large briefcase for transport.</p><p>The standard $295 configuration accommodates 15 drawings, but Mr. Gibbs said the product can be customized to handle more. The Calistoga company is making a custom configuration for the county of Lake’s Water & Sewer Department and has sold units to a landscape architect in Fairfield and three to Santa Rosa-area contractors.</p><p>•••</p><p>Submit items for this column to</p><p>Jeff Quackenbush at 707-521-4256, jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or fax 707-521-5292.</p>