It’s been a long cold winter, both literally and figuratively for a lot of businesses in Silicon Valley and across the nation. But the skies are starting to clear. The sun is out – and it seems to be casting its warming rays on commercial real estate, helping to pull that sector – at least in the local market – out of its recent deep freeze.

Large Companies Making Their Move
You want hard evidence? Here are indisputable facts. In March, multiple sources reported that Motorola is taking 240,000 to 250,000 square feet of space at Moffett Towers in Sunnyvale. The first phase of an eventual 23-acre, 1.8 million sq. ft. corporate campus, Moffett Towers consists of three 8-story office buildings totaling more than 900,000 sq. ft. of space. The towers were completed in 2008 in the dead of real estate’s long recessionary winter. The thawing at Moffett Towers is a welcome sign of spring’s return.

And that’s not all. Other large companies such as Plaxo – a web-based address book provider – and HP are nosing around for additional space. The news of Facebook’s expansion to a 1,000,000 sq. ft. campus in Menlo Park made big news a few months ago with its prospects for reinvigorating the employment prospects of those seeking work in the valley. While Facebook may be leaving Palo Alto, VMware is doing the opposite. The company is leasing nearly 1,000,000 sq. ft. of space in Stanford Research Park. And earlier this month, real estate insiders said Dell Computer is moving to new digs in the Great America Parkway area and will hire hundreds of employees to fill what could be more than 200,000 sq. ft. of space.

Where Large Companies Go, Smaller Businesses Will Follow
And here’s even bigger news. We call it the Second Law of Job Multiplication and Business Boosting. Well, okay, it doesn’t really have a name – but it’s as reliable as if it were a real law.

Whenever large corporations start occupying more space, you can count on smaller to mid-sized companies to follow. Why? Because they supply products and services that the larger companies need to do what they do. They also provide a lot of indirect product and services that employees need or want – such as places to eat, shop or spend their leisure hours. All of this has a dramatic compounding effect that drives business growth, fills buildings, raises rents, and even pours tax dollars into the cities’, counties’ and state’s coffers. Who knows, we may yet find our way out of the state budget mess. That’s probably expecting too much, but it’s a nice thought – and business growth and better incomes can’t hurt.

No Time to Waste
If you own or run a smaller to mid-sized business, it’s time to get cracking. Take a look around for the space you might need over the next three to five years. And when you find it, lock it in.

Rents are beginning to rise, but they’re still very reasonable after being near historic lows for so long. And there wasn’t a lot of space built during the Great Recession. So as the big boys start gobbling space, increasing demand is going to drive prices for the dwindling supply up even higher.

You still probably have a little time. But don’t procrastinate, or keep asking for the moon when you negotiate lease rates. You’ll be sorry.

Learn More from Borelli
Borelli Investment Company specializes in marketing quality space for smaller to medium-sized businesses. The company markets a number of projects, but two of note are Fremont Business Park at Christy Street – a three-building complex with great freeway access near the Pacific Commons shopping center; and Club Auto Sport, a busy business community and event center – plus a club for auto enthusiasts – located in North San Jose.

For more information about Fremont Business Park, e-mail Lee Jatta, or call (408) 453-4700 x140. DRE License #01828564. To tour Club Auto Sport and see the business center first-hand, e-mail Anna Mcquillan Rose or call (408) 770-1205. DRE License #01368576

If you’ve ever looked for space for your business, you’ve probably toured a number of buildings that you knew right away weren’t right for you. It was like a nightmare out of the 1960s. The hallways were dark and narrow. The carpets were worn. Paint was chipping. And the restrooms – well, let’s spare you those details.

So it’s nice when you find an office complex like Fremont Business Park. One that offers quality business space – without putting on airs. And that has the feel of a real business community where work gets done and you get to know your business neighbors.

Small wonder, then, that long-time tenants continue to renew and new tenants discover Fremont Business Park daily. From A (well, okay, B for Blue River, Inc.) to Z (Zeno, Inc.), here are seven tenants that recently signed new or continuing leases to call Christy Street home.

Blue River

Carlos Fuentes is a real estate agent and mortgage planner who heads a busy and fast-growing residential real estate business that recently moved into 1,512 sq. ft. in 42808 Christy Street. Carlos’ office now includes four other realtors as well as two additional real estate agents and mortgage consultants. Blue River, Inc. serves home sellers and buyers in Fremont and surrounding cities – working with people on everything from helping execute successful short sales to qualifying for affordable mortgages.

Cyber Security Works

Deepali Syed, VP of Sales for North America at Cyber Security Works (CSW), recently renewed a 423 sq. ft. lease in Building 42840 Christy Street. CSW has developed some of the world’s best solutions to assess network vulnerabilities and dynamically penetrate business networks, systems, and enterprise and web applications. Unlike most network security solutions that rely on sampling to evaluate a company’s defenses, CSW’s patent-pending technologies effectively simulate a human hacker – enabling you to get an accurate view of where you may be most at risk, before a real hacker targets your business. With data mined from these simulated attacks, CSW is then able to provide some of the most innovative solutions for protecting your information assets.

LNT Business Solutions

Fremont Business Park is ideal for smaller businesses that need modest amounts of space, and LNT Business Solutions is another satisfied tenant that’s renewing 423 sq. ft. of space in Building 42840 Christy Street. LNT offers a variety of services – from credentialed bookkeeping professionals who quickly become trusted business advisors to graphic design experts who can take a form you’ve created in Word and transform it into a “fillable” online document through the use of Adobe Acrobat Professional. LNT’s array of professional services include tax assistance, payroll, notary public and certified loan signer services – and even immigration and travel services and printing. Trina Thao Luong said the company prides itself in delivering the highest quality services at highly competitive rates.

SkyCross
SkyCross is a global designer and manufacturer of high-performance antenna solutions that are used in various devices – ranging from mobile phones to tablet computers. SkyCross provides complete solutions that combine superior antenna technology, RF systems expertise and regional customer support. SkyCross antennas are increasingly compact, so they fit into the smallest form factors – from smart phones and notebook computers to personal media players and even PC cards. Jeffrey Braden, VP of Global Operations and Quality worked with Fremont Business Park to lease 1,579 sq. ft. of space in Building 428480 Christy Street.

Spice i2i (formerly MediaRing)

MediaRing has been a leading provider of voice, data and computing services for leading edge voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology. The company recently rebranded itself Spice i2i Limited and introduced new services to better achieve its goal of providing global connectivity with superior quality voice communications. For example, S-unno is a next-generation mobility and unified messaging solution. Available on mobile phones, PCs and other communication devices, the service allows people to make free calls to other S-unno users and free or low-cost calls to people calling from landlines or mobile phones in many world markets. Mediaring just extended its lease for 2,231 sq. ft. of space in Building 42840 Christy Street.

Xgenuity

In a changing landscape for health care services, billing for services provided, managing information and meeting HIPAA compliance standards has become exceedingly complex. Xgenuity provides a variety of innovative revenue cycle management services and business intelligence services to health care providers – from hospitals to outpatient clinics. The company’s fee-based services include complete medical billings, collections, and accounts receivable management – with detailed analysis and reporting. Xgenuity can also help clients outsource their insurance processing and medical billing when desired. Xgenuity fits comfortably in 423 sq. ft. in Building 42840 Christy Street.

Zeno
Zeno, Inc. has signed a lease for 1,625 sq. ft. of space in Building 42840 Christy Street. The company is a diversified business with two distinct missions. Zeno is an information technology company that works with clients in health care, life sciences, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technologies, data analytics for social networks, online advertising, and consumer applications handling architecture development and software design – with special capabilities in Java/J2EE technologies. In addition, Zeno offers innovative HR solutions including contract placements, hiring of permanent employees, training and consulting in areas such as network engineering, infrastructure management, cloud computing, e-commerce, and more.

To discover why Fremont Business Park is very successfully bringing new businesses like these into its vibrant and fast-growing community when so many office complexes are dealing with massive vacancies, e-mail Lee Jatta, or call (408) 520-2437. DRE License #01828564

Fremont’s Economic Talk Proves City is One of the Bay Area’s Strongest Markets
At the recent City of Fremont Economic Forecast 2011, Brad Kemp, director of regional research for Beacon Economics, took an in-depth look at the city’s economic environment. Based on the following highlights from his talk, what Kemp found was remarkable – considering the state of the economy throughout much of California and, in fact, the nation over the past few years.

Highly Diverse Economy
Fremont is a city that has been blessed with an economic base that’s not one-dimensional. Retail? The city has 12 major shopping centers that account for 80% of sales and 70% of the retail square footage in Fremont – with more than one million square feet at the Pacific Commons shopping center, right down the street from Fremont Business Park.

Vacancy Rates Declining Quickly
Over the past 20 years, vacant industrial land in Fremont has declined by more than two-thirds. Two decades ago, Fremont had over 2,000 acres of land available for industrial development. Today, that figure is closer to 600 acres.

While built-out R&D vacancy rates are still above 20%, all other vacancy rates for space are below 15%, with just 14% of the nearly 2.4 million sq. ft. of office space currently vacant. Not surprisingly, office rents are trending up after a period of hovering near recent lows. The City of Fremont can point to several key wins over the past year – headlined by Tesla Motors agreeing to operate the former NUMMI plant.

Fremont has also worked hard to successfully position itself for clean and green technology investment. In 2008 and 2009, the East Bay received approximately 6% of the venture capital investment nationwide. Amazingly, Fremont enjoyed one-third of that investment in 2008, and swallowed half of the venture capital investment in 2009. Beyond Tesla, other big technology names in the news in Fremont include Solyndra, Western Digital, Solaria, and Greenvolts.

Stimulating the Local Economy
The City of Fremont continues to invest in its own future by providing incentives designed to attract new business. These incentives have included:

• Reduction of development impact fees
• Tax exemptions for clean technology firms
• Local business purchasing preference
• ARRA Recovery Zone facility bond allocation of $6.8 million awarded to Dale Hardware expansion

2011 Forecast
Looking ahead to 2011, the City of Fremont is focused in several key areas:

• Reusing and revitalizing the South Fremont/Warm Springs neighborhood, in cooperation with Union Pacific Railroad
• Continuing to recruit businesses not only in clean technology but also in life sciences such as bio-medical technology
• Working to attract retailers and businesses missing from Fremont
• Expanding outreach efforts for small businesses

With office spaces as small as 357 sq. ft., Fremont Business Park at Christy Street is ideally suited for even the smallest businesses – with spaces up to 5,800 sq. ft. targeted to larger, more established companies or rapidly expanding enterprises.

For more information on what’s happening in Fremont, you’re encouraged to visit the City of Fremont Business News page. If you own and operate a small to medium-sized business of any type, and would like to tour some of the nicest office space in Fremont just a block away from the convenient Pacific Commons shopping center, e-mail Lee Jatta, or call (408) 520-2437. DRE License #01828564