Consulting Firm Extends Full-Floor Lease at KBS’ East Bay Property

The Towers Emeryville. Photo courtesy of KBS

KBS Realty Advisors has renewed a full-floor lease at its Emeryville, Calif. office property, The Towers Emeryville. Global consulting firm Berkeley Research Group (BRG) extended its term on its 20,256-square-foot lease at the 12-story building.

Cushman & Wakefield is acting as property manager on behalf of KBS and negotiated the lease terms.

The Towers Emeryville comprises three office buildings totaling just over 816,000 square feet. Constructed between 1971 and 1986, the property received a full renovation in 2012, when it was under different ownership. According to CommercialEdge, KBS Realty Advisors paid $250 million in 2014 to purchase the three buildings from LBA Realty, through its KBS Real Estate Investment Fund III.

READ ALSO: The Life Sciences Boom: Bay Area Under the Microscope

Currently, KBS owns two of the three buildings. CommercialEdge data shows that in 2019, Prime US REIT purchased 12 properties from KBS for $1.2 billion, including one of the Emeryville towers. Singapore-based Prime acquired a total of more than 3.2 million square feet of office space and over 68,000 square feet of retail space, across several metros.

A growing life sciences hub

The Towers Emeryville property is located at 2200 Powell St., some 4 miles south of downtown Berkeley. The office building offers updated amenities, including EV charging stations, bocce ball court, bike storage and a fitness center, among others. Other tenants include LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. and Centre for Neuro Skills, which also recently extended their lease terms—occupying more than 40,000 square feet.

Emeryville has been seen as a growing life sciences hub, with several players moving in on the action in recent months. According to CommercialEdge data, the submarket had an office vacancy of 14.9 percent in August, animated by this growing trend, and faring better than other locations in the Bay Area—comprising the East and South Bay—where average office vacancy reached 18.4 percent last month.

In January, Oxford Properties completed a $276 million acquisition which included a mixed-use property in Emeryville, as well as two parcels of land. The property includes 60,000 square feet intended for lab space conversion.

In April, the company acquired another similar building for $172.7 million, also destined for a partial conversion for life sciences use. That same month, BioMed Realty announced it will expand its Emeryville Center for Innovation campus, planned to total 910,000 square feet.