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Behind the Deals: Drawbridge Adjusts to New Workplace Strategies

At a time when many multi-tenant office investors are facing increasing pressure as a result of changing workplace strategies, San Francisco-based investor Drawbridge Realty, completed two significant lease deals.

In Santa Clara, the firm renewed a 50,000 square-foot lease for the regional headquarters of Austin-based test equipment manufacturer NI (formerly National Instruments). Meanwhile, Drawbridge executed a 63,000-square-foot lease expansion with NASDAQ-listed collectibles authenticator Collector’s Universe in Santa Ana. We asked Drawbridge CEO Mark Whiting how the company was able to follow through on both deals at the height of the pandemic.

Q: Mark, congratulations on both deals. Were they hard to get over the line?
A:
Leases, whether they are new, renewals or expansions, are never simple and always take a lot of time and hard work. The pandemic has complicated things even more, but we have a great in-house team overseeing leasing as well as excellent long term tenant relationships.

Q: What were the circumstances of each deal?
A:
The Santa Clara lease, at 4600 Patrick Henry Dr., with NI was interesting. It’s the third largest lease signed in Silicon Valley since the pandemic began. NI is a full building tenant and with the lease coming due we were able to structure a short-term renewal that gave them the ability to withstand the impact of the pandemic and manage their physical presence over the next few years.

In Santa Ana, we had one tenant at Pacific Center facing extreme financial distress caused by the pandemic and needing to downsize and get out of its lease, so we negotiated an early termination payment. This, in turn, allowed us to offer Collectors Universe about 63,000 square feet of additional space, which they were seeking for expansion of their global headquarters. It was a win-win for everybody.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser

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Inside The Story

Connect With Drawbridge’s Whiting

About Dennis Kaiser

Dennis Kaiser is Vice President of Content and Public Relations for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Dennis is a communications leader with more than 30 years of experience including as a journalist and in corporate and agency marketing communications roles. He is responsible for Connect’s client content operations and is involved in a range of initiatives ranging from content strategy, message development, copywriting, media relations, social media and content marketing services. In his most recent corporate communications roles, he led a regional public relations effort across Southern California for CBRE, played a key marketing role on JLL’s national retail team, and was responsible for directing the global public relations effort at ValleyCrest, the nation’s largest commercial landscape services company. In addition to his vast commercial real estate experience, Dennis has worked on communications and launch strategies for a number of residential projects such as Disney’s Celebration in Florida, Ritter Ranch in Palmdale California (7,200 homes, 22,000 acres), WaterColor in Florida and PremierGarage in Phoenix. Dennis’s agency background included firms such as Idea Hall and Macy + Associates. He has earned an outstanding reputation with organization leaders as a trusted advisor, strategic program implementer, consensus builder and exceptional collaborator. Dennis has developed and managed national communications programs for Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, both public and private. He’s successfully worked with journalists across the globe representing clients involved in major-breaking news stories, product launches, media tours, and company news announcements. Dennis has been involved in a host of charitable and community organizations including the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, BoyScouts, Chrysalis Foundation, Freedom For Life, HOLA, L.A.’s BEST, Reach Out and Read, Super Bowl Host Committee, and Thunderbirds Charities.

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