Sacramento commercial real estate broker participates in China trade mission

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China’s growing appetite for foreign goods is staggering and California is racing to meet the challenge.  Fueled by Governor Brown’s whirlwind trip to six Chinese cities last April, a follow up trip took place in May by the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce (CalAsian Chamber) and officials within the City of Sacramento.  Click here for video.

Having the privilege of participating with the CalAsian Chamber delegation, I joined Pat Fong Kushida (President of CalAsian Chamber) and Margaret Wong (President of McWong International), along with elected officials and many other business leaders on our first stop in Shanghai.  Here, we visited the brand new California-China Office of Trade and Investment, which is operated by the Bay Area Council. It is the first foreign trade office California has re-opened since all were shut down in 2003.

Shanghai Tower (left) – second tallest building in the world, 2073 feet tall, 121 stories, 4 million sf

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Fitness System opens new athletic club in Land Park commercial property adjacent to Sacramento Zoo

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East West Commercial Real Estate is pleased to announce the May 2013 opening of Fitness System Land Park at 1250 Sutterville Road in the City of Sacramento.  Fitness System is part of a local network of athletic clubs with three additional locations in West Sacramento, Lodi, and Woodland.  

Fitness System – 17,000 sq.ft. athletic club opened May 2013 in Land Park

The newest facility comprises 17,000 square feet and is located directly across from the Sacramento Zoo and Sprouts Market / La Bou Cafe at the corner of Sutterville Road & Land Park Drive.  Sean Covell, owner / operator of locally based Fitness System, is excited to provide a much needed athletic club to Land Park residents and intends to become active within the community right away.  The club offers free weights, machines, aerobics and child care on the first floor, while members engaged in cardio workouts upstairs have the unique opportunity to watch the giraffes at the Sacramento Zoo located just across the street.  See related article from Sacramento Business Journal and CoStar.

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4th Annual Legislative Summit hosted by California Asian Chamber of Commerce at State Capitol

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Living in Sacramento, its easy to take for granted that we actually reside in the State Capitol of California, which represents the 9th largest economy in the entire world.  At times, a healthy reminder is in order to draw attention to this remarkable privilege that we all share.  Important matters are considered and decided every day inside the venerable halls of the State Capitol.  We are certainly fortunate to now have our very own local correspondent, Christopher Arns (Sacramento Business Journal), who has already written over 40 stories covering legislative activities surrounding the State Capitol since January.  

It is incumbent upon citizens to communicate with legislators to ensure their voices are heard.  It is within this context I participated last week in the 4th Annual Legislative Summit at the State Capitol, hosted by the California Asian Chamber of Commerce.  Pat Fong Kushida (President & CEO of the CalAsian Chamber) led four teams who met with over 40 legislative offices to discuss pro-business issues including workforce development, taxation, economic development, and regulatory reform.  It was a terrific day with open dialogue and a distinct willingness to come together.

California State Senator Jim Nielsen (third from left) with CalAsian Chamber lobby team

One such meeting took place with Senator Jim Nielsen (see picture above), where team representatives connected on a personal level, sharing concerns and ideas for improvement in various areas.  This scene repeated itself many times throughout the day as we walked the halls, transitioning from one meeting to the next.  In a fitting culmination of events, the CalAsian Chamber lobby teams capped off the evening with a tasteful reception with dozens of legislators and staffers, along with community and business leaders.

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Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen Revs Up for McClellan Park Grand Opening

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Local Sacramento food truck operator, Andrew Blaskovich (aka “Drewski”), has been on the Sacramento scene for over two years now, serving up gourmet sandwiches to hungry crowds.  With well over 15,000 Twitter and Facebook followers, he is most certainly a force to be reckoned with and has been recognized by Food Network as one of the Top 10 food truck operators in America.  Drewski’s has received rave reviews in local print and media and is currently ranked #1 on the KCRA “A” List and was voted #1 best Food Truck by Sacramento News & Review. 

In a growing trend, the success of food truck operators has convinced some to open brick-and-mortar locations as well.  For Blaskovich, his foray into the brick-and-mortar restaurant business started with a Midtown Sacramento commercial property operated by Republic, a large sports bar, located across from the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.  He partnered with the owners to provide his signature dishes and experienced tremendous success ever since.  Drewski’s second brick-and-mortar location is essentially a small café positioned within the lobby of a commercial office building on Iron Point Road in Folsom.  However, Drewski’s third brick-and-mortar really takes the cake.

Click here for related articles written by the Sacramento Bee, Cowtown Eats, and Sacramento Business Journal.

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Technology Sector Focused on Leasing Commercial Property in Sacramento Region

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Comstock’s Magazine published a terrific article in this month’s edition discussing the need for Sacramento commercial property landlords to relax long-standing tenant requirements for attracting startup tech companies that desperately need space to foster innovation.  The article explains how Hacker Lab, a non-profit technology incubator, recently expanded its commercial space by more than 10x by relocating to a Midtown Sacramento office / warehouse building that lends itself to creative work space.  Sacramento commercial real estate broker Brian Jacks, who handled the lease transaction, was quoted in the article as saying “it wasn’t an easy deal, but fortunately the landlord was willing to take a chance.”  A few short months later, Hacker Lab finds itself at the epicenter of a movement that is culminating with Startup Weekend, a global event in local cities that brings programmers, designers and entrepreneurs together to launch their own startup company in 54 hours.  Excitement is building.  The City of Davis recently announced a new staff position called ‘Chief Innovation Officer’ that was assumed by industry veteran Rob White.  White toured a mixed-use commercial building last week, located just one block from the U.C. Davis campus, which he agrees would be a perfect fit for a Hacker Lab type organization.  Students and industry professionals need a place other than coffee shops where they can meetup to collaborate on technology and innovation projects that will help take the Sacramento region to the next level.  Click here for related article.  

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Commercial Real Estate Investments Peak Interest Near Sacramento Downtown Arena

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Sacramento commercial real estate investors who own property near the proposed site of the Downtown Arena are now one step closer to potentially significant increases in value.  The Sacramento City Council voted 7-2 in favor of approving the arena financing proposal, which creates the opportunity for investors to form a competing bid to acquire the Sacramento Kings.  News 10 caught up with Sacramento commercial real estate broker Brian Jacks to find out what this could mean for commercial properties within the immediate vicinity of the proposed arena.  Click here for News 10 story

Sacramento commercial real estate

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Student Athlete Awarded $1,000 Volleyball Scholarship by Jackson Sports Academy

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It’s always nice when a plan comes together.  East West Commercial Real Estate of Sacramento helped Jackson Sports Academy (JSA) relocate into a 72,000 sf building at McClellan Park in December 2012.  As a result, JSA’s non-profit arm, Jackson Sports For Athletes, has been able to expand its scholarship program to include recipient Hannah Heckman, whose story was recently shared in a feature article by The North Sac News.  

In addition to providing assistance for individual players, JSA’s community outreach regularly provides sport court facilities for local charter school students, enabling them to accumulate physical education credits.  One such beneficiary of this program is Community Collaborative Charter Schools (CCCS), who practically shares a parking lot with JSA at McClellan Park, creating much improved access to the program.

Other related programs offered through JSA include Harold Pressley’s Treat’em Like A King (TLK Foundation).  Pressley is a former Sacramento King, who partners with JSA to host basketball camps, which introduce at-risk and disadvantaged youth to sporting opportunities that would otherwise not be available to them.

JSA is a true partner in the community and is to be commended for its excellence and dedication to fostering opportunities for local youth to achieve their dreams.

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Technology Making Huge Comeback: Sacramento Region Gets Its Share

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As reported in a recent article by the Sacramento Business Journal, “a new Brookings Institution study ranked 20 U.S. metro areas by the number of patents per million residents from 2007 through 2011.  All, including Sacramento, are home to major research universities.”  Clearly, UC Davis has been a major contributing factor to the Sacramento region’s success in this area.  While Sacramento barely made the cut at #20 on the list, it proves the region is certainly in the game and ripe for an ever-increasing market share of patents.  No surprise to anyone, our nearest competition, San Jose and San Francisco, ranked #1 and #3 with 1,988 and 555 patents, respectively.  However, when totaling the patents for all three Northern California cities, it represents over 34% of all patents nationwide.

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McClellan Park Recognizes East West Commercial Real Estate for Jackson Sports Academy Lease

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McClellan Park recognizes Brian Jacks of East West Commercial Real Estate in the December 21, 2012 issue of Sacramento Business Journal for signing a 10 year lease for 72,021 sf with Jackson Sports Academy.  Click here for the press release.

 

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New ADA Reforms Help Curb Shakedown Lawsuits (Effective January 1, 2013)

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The California Legislature recently approved Senate Bill 1186, which is designed to curb the misuse and abuse of California’s ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) laws and protect business owners. The catalyst driving the Legislature’s action was what the Bill’s authors described as a serious problem in which claimants and attorneys file “shakedown lawsuits against businesses in an effort to gain an easy payday with no intention of improving access for the disabled community.” Landlords and property owners were often faced with exploitive demand letters for money and would choose to pay the claimant simply to avoid the time and expense of dealing with litigation. 

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