Transwestern Announces Major Expansion in the San Francisco Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO, May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Transwestern, one of the largest privately held full-service real estate firms in the country, has announced a major expansion in the East San Francisco Bay Area market. The action solidifies Transwestern as a leading player in the region with the addition of 17 new team members including brokers, property managers and staff. The team is led by Managing Director Edward F. Del Beccaro, an industry veteran in the region. Transwestern's new Walnut Creek office (initially based at 1990 N. California Street) will take on responsibilities for the firm's considerable market share in the East San Francisco Bay market, which spans from Napa Valley to the north to Hayward and San Jose to the south.

With these additions, Transwestern assumes a dominant market presence in the East Bay, and becomes well positioned to grow across the San Francisco Bay area, expanding its property management, agency leasing, tenant advisory, investment services and investment management capabilities.

Based on recent leasing volume of its new producers in Walnut Creek, Transwestern immediately secures a place among the top four commercial real estate service firms in the East Bay. Transwestern's new additions bring with them approximately 3.5 million square feet of office, retail and industrial listings. They arrive on the heels of the dramatic growth of Transwestern's Bay Area property management portfolio, which has surged from 1.9 million square feet to 8.8 million square feet since January 2011.

"Our East Bay expansion has been carefully planned and is part of our multi-leveled approach to serving the entire region, one that Transwestern already knows quite well," said George Garfield, president of Transwestern's West Region. "We've had transactional and property management operations in the Bay Area for more than a decade, though this new expansion provides us with both a broader and deeper capability. With the renewed strength of the tech, social media and industrial sector, our expanded team is well positioned to provide an even more complete range of services to fast-growing businesses and to our institutional clients in the Bay area."

Garfield added, "The exciting new additions in Walnut Creek are key components of a larger strategy to cement a dominant market share in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles. Additional expansion is contemplated in each of the new East Bay offices as well as in downtown San Francisco, San Jose and Palo Alto."

The new East Bay brokerage team is led by former Grubb & Ellis Managing Director Edward F. Del Beccaro, who has over 33 years of experience in the San Francisco Bay Area in the fields of development, property management, leasing, sales and investments. Throughout his career he has leased more than 2 million square feet of office properties. As managing director of Grubb & Ellis' Walnut Creek East Bay office, as well as its Oakland office, Del Beccaro was responsible for managing a full-service real estate team, including office, retail, industrial and medical leasing and sales, land investment, construction and project management.

A boom in social media and Web-focused companies has helped make the San Francisco area the healthiest office market in the country over the past year. According to Dina Simoni, Transwestern's research manager for the Bay Area, the region's office market has experienced 8.9 percent rent growth over the past year. Simoni noted that rents currently average $29.88 per square foot in the Bay Area compared to the fourth quarter of 2000, just before the burst of the tech bubble, when rents were about $50 per square foot.

"The Bay Area recovery and expansion is underway," said Simoni. "Demand in the office market led to a net absorption of close to 2 million square feet per quarter in 2011 and this continued into 2012. The second quarter of 2012 is shaping up to be another blockbuster. All of the uptick in demand and leasing activity is reminiscent of 2005 and before that in the late 1990s when the tech boom occurred."

With a full support staff of six, as well as Senior Portfolio Manager Dennis Henry, joining Transwestern in its new Walnut Creek office are the following brokers:

Edward F. Del Beccaro, Managing Director
Tom Caple, Vice President
Sonny O'Drobinak, Vice President
Scott Ellis, Senior Vice President
Bob Maderious, Senior Vice President
Matt Hurd, Senior Associate
Terry Vani, Vice President
Trigger Reital, Vice President
John Sechser, Senior Vice President
Colby Mikulich, Associate

Transwestern's growth in the Bay Area is part of a national and global growth initiative, having opened offices in New York City and St. Louis in the past year, as well as establishing an international alliance with BNP Paribas Real Estate. Now with 31 offices across the U.S., Transwestern oversees a leasing and property management portfolio of 258 million square feet nationally.

About Transwestern 
Transwestern is a privately-held operating company specializing in commercial real estate services, investment and development.  The firm's fully integrated approach delivers value to owners, investors and users of commercial real estate through innovation, penetrating market intelligence and legendary service delivered by teams of local experts.  Transwestern has product specialties in office, industrial, retail, multifamily and healthcare and is an industry leader in sustainability solutions and in market research through its affiliate, Delta Associates. 

Transwestern's East San Francisco Bay offices are at 1990 North California Blvd
Suite 830
Walnut Creek, CA 94596

925.357.2000
925.357.2001 f
Please visit www.transwestern.net or follow us on Twitter at @Transwestern.

SOURCE Transwestern