After stabilizing for much of the year, Palo Alto office rents are closing out the year on an up note, according to a new infographic from JLL.

The city, considered one of Silicon Valley’s most desirable office markets, has seen rents overall climb 49 percent since the start of 2010, JLL says. The number for less-swanky Class B product? That’s zoomed even more, up 114.4 percent, JLL says.

Read the full story in the Silicon Valley Business journal here.

Following Fremont City Council’s approval last week of the Warm Springs/South Fremont Community Plan and its environmental impact report, the city is now moving to kick-start an 850-acre planned development—dubbed “Innovation District”—surrounding the new, under-construction Warm Springs/South Fremont BART station.

The district, bounded by Interstates 880 and 680, Auto Mall Parkway and Mission Boulevard, currently houses a number of industrial and manufacturing companies, including Thermo Fisher, Boston Scientific, Delta Products, Western Digital and Tesla Motors Inc., which took over a 212-acre plant following the closure of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) in 2010. That closure resulted in a $330,000 federal Economic Development Administration grant to the city that boosted the new district planning efforts as well as helped to find ways to reuse the plant and make up for the loss of at least 4,000 jobs. Architectural and design firm Perkins + Will was contracted to develop the community plan.

Read the full article on The Registry here.

For leasing information at Fremont Business Park (Class A office space near 880/Auto Mall), visit our home page.

“We are in an outright boom; the strongest place in America.” Those were the resounding words spoken by Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley, as he opened the center’s 19th annual conference, Monday, April 28, describing the state of the Bay Area real estate market.

The information presented at the event summarized the state of the national economy, with special emphasis on the regional figures, as well. But it was the assessment of the real estate industry that most of the attendees of the event wanted to hear. Unsurprisingly, the region checked in as healthy as one would expect.

Read the full story at The Registry.

In an era of rapid technological progress, is there a reason that an office complex or classroom building—both housing lots of smart people—can’t elevate its own IQ?

In a smart building, software allows communications among traditionally separate systems running everything from lighting, heating and ventilation to security and telecommunications. The systems’ convergence creates a single intelligent network that allows a building to react dynamically to real-time conditions using input from every source attainable. Moreover, smart buildings are the backbone of smart work environments, something that tenants increasingly want.

“They are engineering smart buildings with automation, which facilitates the creation of smart work environments.” Bob Brown, chief executive and co-founder, Fremont-based Teladata LLC
Energy is typically the largest expense for any U.S. building owner or user, accounting for 30 percent of operating costs in an average commercial building, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Overall, commercial and industrial buildings use $200 billion a year nationwide on power, producing nearly half of the nation’s greenhouse-gas emissions. Smart buildings are being credited with reducing energy use from 20 percent to 30 percent as compared to conventionally built and operated structures.

Read the rest of the story at The Registry – here.