By Jon Peterson
Months after selling its offices in Menlo Park, the iconic California lifestyle Sunset Magazine is planning to move into its new location at Jack London Square in Oakland at 55 Harrison Street this December. “I would expect that they will move into this space by around the first of that month,” says Jim Ellis, managing principal of Ellis Partners, the owner of the building that Sunset will be occupying.
Sunset had been at its current, 7-acre location at 80 Willow Road in Menlo Park since 1951 and had been the owner of this site until it was sold to Belmont-based Embarcadero Capital Partners for an estimated $1,000 per square foot, or roughly $77 million.
Ellis sees that Sunset’s new location will have a major impact on its bottom line. “I would think that the rental rate in Oakland would be around half of what it was paying in its previous location. This was an obvious benefit at to the kind of space that was available to them. It’s now just office space, but also has an area for a test kitchen and wine cellar,” said Ellis. The lease that was signed by Sunset is for over 10 years.
Sunset had been looking at a variety of locations for its new future home around the Bay Area. It’s expected that the new location in Oakland will be the home for around 75 employees. “I do know that a large number of current employees were very favorable of the move to Oakland,” said Ellis.
Ellis Partners is the owner of Jack London Square where 55 Harrison Street is located. The landlord was represented by Ryan Hattersley and Daniel Bisabri of Cushman & Wakefield of California, while Sunset was represented by Peter A. Ladas and Bret Yerkovich of Jones Lang LaSalle in Palo Alto.
The lease signed by Sunset will the office building at 55 Harrison Street to full occupance. This is a six-story property that has both office space and some other uses as well. Ellis Partners has been involved in this project since the onset as the original developer.
Photo courtesy of hapmama.com
