City Center Realty Partners Acquires Three-Building Office Complex for Life Science Conversion in Berkeley’s Innovation District

Joint venture with Contrarian Capital deepens CCRP’s life science focus

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--City Center Realty Partners, LLC (CCRP), a San Francisco-based real estate investor and developer, in a joint venture with Contrarian Capital Management, announces its acquisition of the Parker Innovation Hub (Parker Innovation), a three-building office/R&D/life science complex in Berkeley. The buildings, located at 2607 7^th Street, 918 Parker Street and 2612 8^th Street, comprise 40,580 square feet total. Scott Prosser, Mark Kol, Mike Raffetto and Jack DePuy of CBRE represented the seller and the buyer in the deal.

Parker Innovation is situated in the highly coveted East Bay/880 corridor and within blocks of several other CCRP projects. The Public Market Emeryville, which CCRP is developing with leading global real estate investor and asset manager Oxford Properties Group, is located in the Emeryville life sciences cluster. The 14-acre mixed-use site is undergoing transformation into a biotech hub and is envisioned to include 400,000 square feet of new life science buildings, along with up to 60,000 square feet of space being converted into life science over time. The popular food hall with its award-winning eateries will continue to provide a variety of food and drink options for the public.

CCRP is also working with Oxford on 5801 Christie Avenue, a 3.76-acre parcel near Public Market Emeryville with plans to develop a mixed use life science and residential project, as well as Foundry31, a 400,000 square foot industrial building positioned for partial lab conversion located along the Berkeley/Emeryville city limits.

“Our strategy with this acquisition is to meet the demand in the market for smaller lab space sought by emerging, venture-backed life science tenants,” noted Sig Anderson, CCRP co-founder and CEO. “There are great opportunities with this and other projects to develop life science assets that offer tenants urban amenities, easy access and a community of neighboring biotech innovators.”

Parker Innovation is adjacent to numerous world-renowned biotech companies, including Bayer Healthcare whose campus across the street is expanding to 1.7 million square feet. Parker Innovation most recently leased spec lab space to Huue, a venture-backed biotechnology company that creates environmentally-sustainable dyes. At Public Market, CCRP led the conversion of existing space into new lab space in its lease to pioneering cultivated meat company Upside Foods.

CCRP’s portfolio of projects include high profile real estate assets in major markets, with a number of properties in San Francisco’s Union Square. The firm specializes in transforming life science, retail, office and mixed-use urban developments to better serve tenants, the community and to deliver for investors.

About City Center Realty Partners

City Center Realty Partners, LLC is a San Francisco-based real estate investment firm, specializing in integrated development and redevelopment for an evolving world. Nationwide, CCRP has developed and acquired more than $2 billion of life science, retail, office and mixed-use properties. For more information visit their website here.

About Contrarian Capital Management

Contrarian Capital Management (“CCM”) is an institutional investment manager formed in 1995. Its real estate strategy strives to achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns with real estate equity and debt investment opportunities spanning all U.S. property sectors. The real estate team looks to pursue mid-sized distressed and opportunistic opportunities generally overlooked by larger institutional investors. Contrarian’s ability to underwrite diligence and close transactions quickly, combined with a strong industry reputation for integrity, makes the firm a preferred counterparty for sellers and joint venture partners that require certainty of execution. For more information visit www.contrariancapital.com.

Maureen Futtner (415) 637-3280
maureen@maureenfuttner.com