Q: What do you see as the benefits for that part of Berkeley with your project?Ī: We want to be in places where our projects can help with the vibrancy of the neighborhood. So when the project is completed, there will be separate ownership for the retail and the residential. We took this unique approach because it was very important to the owner to stay involved. That site has been in the family for some time. We are buying the property from the owner of the retail and then will give back the new retail, when it is developed, to the owner. Berkeley has a specific plan for the downtown area that allows greater heights and more density.Ī: It now has some at-grade retail. It’s a 156-unit residential high-rise with ground floor retail to activate the street. It’s a fantastic site and is halfway between the BART station and the UC campus. Q: What are the highlights of the Berkeley project?Ī: This project is at 1951 Shattuck Ave. It gives us exposure to those markets, and we also hope the builders will learn from our development teams. We also have a lending program where we lend money to residential developers. We also do investment, in which case we buy and hold for the long-term. Q: What is driving the commercial real estate boom in the Bay Area?Ī: We do development projects, which would be the North 40 in Los Gatos, a project in downtown Berkeley and our projects in San Francisco. Q: How long has the Bay Area been a top market?Ī: For the last three years, the Bay Area has been at the top of the list for the markets we are involved in. Bay Area commercial real estate always seems to outdo itself. Of the markets we are involved in, the Bay Area was one of the first to recover after the Great Recession and it has remained consistently our top market. I started in January 2000 and I was here for the end of the dot-com boom and through the financial crisis. Q: How would you assess the Bay Area commercial real estate market today?Ī: The market seems to outdo itself each cycle.

This news organization recently talked to O’Connell about these projects to get his assessment about the Bay Area real estate market and why his company seeks out rare opportunities for development.

Among those: The Los Gatos North 40 mixed-use development that will bring far-reaching changes to the South Bay city, as well as a residential and retail tower in downtown Berkeley. Steve O’Connell, the new chief executive officer of Grosvenor Americas, arrives at the helm of the stalwart real estate company at a time when it is guiding the development of some key projects in the Bay Area.

Grosvenor americas