The firm’s goal is to provide more than what is expected of a typical broker by offering a full suite of services with a sophisticated platform and regional expertise, says Del Beccaro in this EXCLUSIVE.
By Lisa Brown | January 31, 2019
Del Beccaro says TRI is developing strategies to capture a bigger slice of middle market businesses.
WALNUT CREEK, CA—In the two short months since Edward Del Beccaro joined TRI Commercial/CORFAC International as executive vice president and East Bay regional manager, he has hired 13 people, is actively recruiting more brokers, moving to larger creative space in Walnut Creek, initiating an expansion of the existing platform in Oakland and adding new commercial real estate services. More than anything though, Del Beccaro is influencing the way TRI Commercial thinks about how it approaches the Bay Area market, GlobeSt.com learns in this exclusive.
The firm is developing strategies to capture that “holy grail” of brokerage services–a bigger slice of middle market businesses not in the Fortune 500 that are largely served by the big five publicly traded commercial brokerage firms. TRI Commercial plans to do this by offering the same sophisticated commercial real estate services that Fortune 500 companies demand and expect–yet target Fortune 5000 companies.
“We’ve already started the process of transforming TRI Commercial into a stronger competitive regional firm with the addition of the Walnut Creek team,” said Charles Wall, chairman of TRI Commercial.
Tom Martindale, president of TRI Commercial, who oversees the operations for more than 100 brokers and staff, noted a big advantage for the independently owned Northern California commercial real estate firm.
“There are deep local roots across all the offices from San Francisco to Oakland, Walnut Creek, Sacramento, Roseville and Rocklin. That is an opportunity because this swath of Northern California which includes Silicon Valley has become one big interconnected market,” Martindale says. “More important than the physical footprint of our operations, however, is the caliber and extraordinary skill sets of our agents in all the markets we cover. Few of our closed transactions involve cookie-cutter deals. They are mostly client-centric, creative solutions. Ed is bringing new energy, a competitiveness and a complementary approach to what we have been doing for 42 years as a company.”
For example, TRI Commercial broker and senior vice president Bill Karr of the Walnut Creek office is the real estate consultant to Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin County Inc. on real estate matters, including leasing space, selecting brokers, buying buildings and performing lease administration services, among other duties.
“The need has come full circle to best serve the clients we are doing business with,” Del Beccaro tells GlobeSt.com. “We can offer comprehensive real estate expertise, knowledge of the local market and its evolving dynamics along with advisory brokerage services. Companies that are now facing increased employee costs as a result of rapidly rising home values resulting in hour and a half commutes are now examining where they do business, all of which impacts commercial real estate needs. So that is how we will approach it moving forward.”
Del Beccaro’s first priority is to grow the East Bay offices of TRI Commercial, and he has already begun that process by bringing on accomplished brokers with expertise to provide ahead of the curve trends, including John Sechser, managing director of retail, and Sonny O’Drobinak, managing director with healthcare real estate services, as well as others who are focused on industrial and office real estate. The firm already has a strong platform of healthcare, industrial and investment services in its Sacramento brokerage operation led by Ed Benoit, principal and managing director. In addition, TRI Commercial is closely watching the convergence of retail and industrial industries driven by e-commerce as those two product types become more aligned.
TRI Commercial is also adding to its property management services and a construction management practice for office tenant improvements. The firm already has a property management presence, with approximately 4.5 million square feet under management, mostly in Sacramento.
Once those pieces and people are in place, Del Beccaro intends to strengthen its regional presence with assistance from some of the company’s new staff, including managing director of corporate marketing and research, Dina Simoni-Gouveia.
“Our goal is to provide more than what is expected of a typical broker. We have an opportunity to offer a full suite of services with a sophisticated platform and regional expertise to win the confidence of the client, and ultimately help them accomplish their business plans,” Del Beccaro said.
Published in GlobeSt. on January 31, 2019.
Written by: Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
View full article here
Dina Simoni-Gouveia joined TRI Commercial/CORFAC International as Managing Director, Corporate Marketing & Research, and will be based in the company’s Walnut Creek office. TRI Commercial has offices in Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Rocklin and Roseville. Dina has 20+ years of research, marketing and public relations experience for various real estate industries including lending, mortgage and commercial real estate services.
See original SF Business Times article here.
Paul O’Drobinak has joined TRI Commercial/CORFAC International as a Senior Associate in the firm’s Walnut Creek office. He specializes in leasing and sales of office, medical and other healthcare-related properties in the North I-680 corridor market. He is experienced with exclusive landlord listings, tenant representation and finding development opportunities. His commercial real estate career started in the Transwestern Walnut Creek office in 2015.
See original SF Business Times article here.
TRI Commercial/CORFAC International Executive Vice President and East Bay Regional Manager Ed Del Beccaro announced that Matt Hatfield has joined TRI Commercial as a Senior Director in the firm’s Walnut Creek office.
Hatfield specializes in representing commercial property owners, landlords, tenants and investors in leasing and sales, site selection and transaction management in the North Contra Costa County market. He is also fluent in advising and consulting with local municipalities on zoning, entitlements and easements as it relates to planned property uses. He has successfully represented the City of Concord in the disposition of office, industrial and city-owned land sites.
“Matt is a great complement to the existing TRI professionals that work in the East Bay’s submarkets as well as the other former Transwestern brokers we are integrating into our operations,” said Ed Del Beccaro.
Prior to TRI Commercial, Hatfield was a broker and senior associate with Transwestern and was the Walnut Creek office Rookie of the Year in 2014. Prior to his career in real estate, he worked for Advanced Office Systems in Concord where he served as a Systems Specialist. A native of the East Bay, Hatfield’s family owns and operates a business in Concord.
Matt Hatfield earned a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from California State University at Chico.
Written by: The Registry Bay Area Real Estate.
View the original article here.
TRI Commercial/CORFAC International President Tom Martindale, SIOR, announced the firm has launched a Healthcare Services Brokerage Group and concurrently named Sonny O’Drobinak as Managing Director Healthcare Services. He will be based in the firm’s Walnut Creek office. The Healthcare Services Brokerage Group includes Executive Vice President and East Bay Regional Manager Ed Del Beccaro and Paul O’Drobinak, Sonny’s son. The group focuses on representing healthcare clients in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. Sonny O’Drobinak has served in the healthcare industry for nearly 30 years.
“By hiring arguably the top expert in his field, we are building one of the preeminent healthcare services brokerage groups in the Northern California. Sonny is an excellent broker yet has professional perspectives on the healthcare property sector from working on the client side as well as in property management. This is an underserved niche in the commercial real estate industry and we intend to excel at it,” said Ed Del Beccaro.
O’Drobinak specializes in medical office leasing, building and land purchases and sales, landlord and tenant representation and site selection for medical property occupiers, as well as work in the senior housing sector, which includes Alzheimer’s and Dementia locations.
O’Drobinak recently had a similar role for Transwestern in Walnut Creek, and prior to Transwestern, he developed the medical division for Grubb & Ellis. Current and past assignments include site selection, lease and sale purchase agreements for a national dialysis clinic in Northern California, marketing and selling medical office buildings (MOBs) of all sizes and brokering MOBs as build-to-suit projects with developers. His work includes dental offices and senior housing locations.
Earlier in his career, and as the director of leasing and operations at PM Realty Group, O’Drobinak managed a 2 million-square-foot portfolio of medical office buildings in seven states for the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA).
Sonny O’Drobinak is a Certified Property Manager (CPM®) from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM®). He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from Purdue University.
Paul O’Drobinak joined TRI Commercial/CORFAC International as a Senior Associate Office & Medical and will focus on leasing and selling office, medical and other healthcare-related properties in the I-680 Corridor Market. He began his career in 2015 at Transwestern and has a Bachelor of Science in Health Science from California State University at Chico.
Written by: The Registry Bay Area Real Estate.
View the original article here.
John Sechser is a well-known fixture on the CRE retail scene, having recently joined TRI.
WALNUT CREEK, CA—Third quarter 2018 marked the lowest downtown Walnut Creek retail vacancy rate in more than a year. Vacancy dropped from 4.6% in the second quarter to 4.5%, according to John Cumbelich & Associates’ third quarter retail report.
The downtown market continues to attract new-to-market users, with retailers such as Blaze Pizza and Madison Reed signing leases in third quarter. Heritage Eats, a Napa Valley-based concept, also opened during the quarter.
As existing vacancy continues to absorb, there are significant new retail developments either underway or ready to break ground in the coming fiscal year, says the report. And with Broadway Plaza’s ongoing construction decreasing due to the third quarter completion of the new Apple Store, additional construction is anticipated as new downtown retail inventory breaks ground.
The Foundry, a 27,545-square-foot European-style food hall, continues to make progress. The Foundry’s proposed site is located on Walnut Creek’s busy Locust Street across the street from Century Theatre. And, Broadway Plaza’s new 75,000-square-foot Lifetime Fitness facility is underway, receiving approval from the Walnut Creek planning commission earlier this year.
Net absorption ended the quarter at 3,450 square feet and vacancy in the historic downtown north of Mt. Diablo Boulevard increased from 10.8% to 11.3%, according to the Cumbelich report. The historic downtown’s share of overall vacancy remained stable in the quarter, carrying over 54% of the overall market from second into third quarter. Vacancy rates there have continued to rise since third quarter 2016, as the center of gravity for retail and dining has shifted to the remodeled Broadway Plaza. With vacancy increasing in the historic downtown, additional retail assets will be repurposed to mixed-use development.
With all of this retail activity buzzing in Walnut Creek, it seems to be the place for veteran retail real estate brokers. John Sechser is certainly that. He is a well-known fixture on the commercial real estate scene, having spent numerous years at Transwestern, Colliers International, Grubb & Ellis and Bishop Hawk.
And now, Sechser has joined the team at TRI Commercial/CORFAC International, according to president Tom Martindale. His expertise includes retail leasing as well as representing retail tenants with site selection requirements, and negotiating leases and investment sales.
Sechser’s new position at TRI is East Bay retail services managing director. He was most recently a senior vice president/director of retail operations with Transwestern in Walnut Creek. Ed Del Beccaro managed that office until joining TRI Commercial a few weeks ago as executive vice president and East Bay regional manager.
“I have known John Sechser for many years as a man of integrity and always a top producer. We are thrilled to have a consummate professional such as John join our East Bay team,” Del Beccaro tells GlobeSt.com. “The retail business in the East Bay is thriving and John is a great addition to TRI Commercial.”
Since 1981, Sechser has worked extensively with retail tenants as well as retail property owners throughout the Bay Area, later concentrating on the East Bay. Recently, his work includes marketing the retail space at several mixed-use projects in Walnut Creek.
The Lyric, located between North California Boulevard and Locust Street on the north end of Bonanza Street, has 18,000 square feet of ground-floor retail with 141 apartment units in three-, four- and five-story buildings.
1380 North California Blvd., the former McDonalds, will have 10,300 square feet of retail with 97 apartments above it; 22 of which will be Airbnb-style short-term rental residences.
1716 North Main St., which will be 42 executive-style apartment homes above 2,700 square feet of retail.
Alamo Drafthouse, Maya Cinema, Fuddruckers, Las Montanas Market, Patio World, Philly Cheesesteak and Denica’s Real Food Kitchen are some of the retail tenants Sechser has exclusively represented. He also has development experience, having worked as a partner in developing Brentwood Junction, a 65,000-square-foot retail center anchored by Best Buy and Walgreens, and Brentwood Station, a 75,000-square-foot retail center, both in Brentwood, CA.
After several years with Bishop Hawk in San Jose beginning in 1981, Sechser transitioned to the Grubb & Ellis Company where he spent 13 years building his retail real estate career. He joined Colliers International in 1999 and was an integral part of building its retail business before joining Transwestern in 2012 to help open its Walnut Creek office.
Written by: Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
View the original article here.
Media contact: Gary Marsh: 415.999.3793; gary@marshmarketing.com
TRI Commercial/CORFAC International Nabs East Bay Transwestern Manager Ed Del Beccaro
Walnut Creek, CA – November 13, 2018 — TRI Commercial/CORFAC International President Tom Martindale, SIOR, announced that his firm has recruited the former East Bay and Silicon Valley Senior Managing Director of Transwestern, Ed Del Beccaro, to TRI Commercial. Effective immediately, Del Beccaro becomes Executive Vice President and East Bay Regional Manager for TRI Commercial and will be based in Walnut Creek.
“TRI Commercial is extremely pleased with the addition of Ed Del Beccaro. Ed is an East Bay icon in our business and our management team believes he is a perfect fit for TRI Commercial’s platform, which is client centric, entrepreneurial, privately held, locally based yet globally connected. The East Bay is a highly strategic market to our business operations and a stronger team there will complement the offices and professionals TRI currently has in San Francisco, the East Bay, Sacramento and Roseville,” said TRI Commercial Chairman of the Board Charles Wall.
Wall and Del Beccaro have had a long-term relationship and while Wall typically is not involved with daily operations at the real estate services firm, he made the initial call to Del Beccaro based on their existing relationship.
Del Beccaro has nearly 40 years of real estate experience in the San Francisco Bay Area, including founding a development company and opening the Colliers Parrish International Walnut Creek and Stockton offices (now Colliers International), where he was instrumental in the growth and development of transaction services and property management services. He took over the East Bay and Silicon Valley management roles for Transwestern in February 2015.
“I view this as a tremendous opportunity to deliver sophisticated, world-class brokerage services and I am particularly excited to help drive a regionally focused platform to its next level. The Greater Bay Area is increasingly one market – including Sacramento, and having the ability to serve clients across the spectrum of property types and tenant requirements is paramount to succeeding in today’s marketplace. After evaluating the East Bay landscape of firms offering commercial real estate brokerage and management services, TRI was a clear choice for me,” Ed Del Beccaro said.
He started his career in 1977 with Grubb & Ellis and also had his own development company from 1983 to 1992. He is a specialist in office and retail leasing and sales, distressed properties, land sales, commercial mixed-use projects, medical office and securing project entitlements. He has completed more than 2 million square feet of tenant representation assignments on behalf of UCSF, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, various local and regional banks, area developers and many other Bay Area clients.
He is currently or has formerly served on more than a dozen local boards, including as Co-Chair of the Bay Area Council Transportation Task Force, Vice Chair of the Economic Alliance for Business, Co-Chair of the Transportation Task Force East Bay Leadership Council, the California Technology Council, California Shakespeare Theater, Chamber Music San Francisco, JFK University, Walnut Creek Library Foundation and the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce. Ed Del Beccaro earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Stanford University.
About TRI Commercial/CORFAC International
Founded in 1977, TRI Commercial/CORFAC International is a leading Northern California commercial real estate brokerage and property management (with over 4 million square feet of commercial property under management) firm specializing in San Francisco, East Bay and the Sacramento Metro property markets. The company has expertise in tenant and landlord representation services and helps clients buy and sell commercial and investment-grade property. The company serves office, retail, and land, multifamily and industrial property sectors, with offices in San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Oakland, Roseville, Sacramento and Rocklin. For more information, visit www.tricommercial.com or call Ed directly at 925.296.3333.
CORFAC International is comprised of privately held entrepreneurial firms with expertise in office, industrial and retail properties, tenant and landlord representation, investment sales, multifamily, self-storage, acquisitions and dispositions, property management and corporate services. For more information on CORFAC call the Chicago headquarters at 224.257.4400 or visit www.corfac.com.
Be a #CRE Advocate, Not Just an Agent
For TRI retail advisor Ross Portugeis, commercial real estate is about more than brick-and-mortar transactions. Ross is a passionate advocate for local entrepreneurs, and for sustainable growth of small business throughout the community. But these are challenging times in San Francisco’s overheated #CRE market and it takes more than one person chipping away at the problem to make a difference. Enter SFMade, a dynamic local nonprofit dedicated to reviving and expanding manufacturing in San Francisco. Ross is a staunch supporter of their work and now sits on the board of their subsidiary, 150 Hooper Inc.
The 150 Hooper project is a joint venture with Kilroy Real Estate, creating a dedicated hub for manufacturing businesses. Through the agreement, SFMade, through their subsidiary Placemade, will take ownership of a brand new 50,000-sf production, distribution, and manufacturing facility. Lease income will support the work of SFMade and help the organization expand, while local manufacturing businesses will have the perfect space to put down roots and grow.
In a city where big business has a clear and nearly unchallenged advantage in commercial real estate,
SFMade and Ross Portugeis are helping to deliver a satisfying win.
*Photographs taken at The Bay Area Urban Manufacturing Summit in November, 2017
TRI Commercial was presented as the Gold Award Winner of CORFAC International‘s Fifth Annual Standards of Excellence Awards at the Fall Summit in Denver, CO.
Recognizing a company’s leadership, participation, referrals, industry awards, CORFAC branding, and reporting, we at TRI are honored, humbled, and excited to continue embodying these valuable attributes! Thank you for your acknowledgement and support!
https://lnkd.in/gF6F8xh
TRI Commercial Real Estate/CORFAC International is broadening its reach in the Sacramento region, having brought aboard nine new agents within the last few weeks at offices in Roseville and Point West.
This week, the company announced Steve Griffin, Greg Redman, Graham Clemons andRichard Smith, formerly of Grubb & Ellis, have joined the company, with plans to look for more, said company senior vice president and regional manager Ed Benoit. “In business, one thing I’ve learned is you always have room for good businessmen,” Benoit said, adding TRI’s structure is a good fit for veteran agents and brokers who have been with larger firms with a national presence. “Great agents attract great agents.” Benoit said a newly opened office in Point West, which has five agents with Griffin as head, could have as many as 20 eventually.
The company’s focus there and at offices in Roseville and Rocklin will be regional business and strong relationships with clients, he said. “If we have a good idea, we can execute it quickly,” he said. “We’re a destination for agents who look to themselves and their client relationships to be successful.”
In addition to the four agents from Grubb & Ellis, TRI Commercial/CORFAC International has
added Dennis Shorroch and Bruce Wirt of Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight
Frank, Drew Wheatley of Cassidy Turley, Bryan Wirt of Ethan Conrad Properties and Daniel
Dabkowski of Commercial Realty Group in Sausalito in recent weeks to its Sacramento-region
offices.
TRI also added two former Grubb & Ellis agents to its San Francisco office this week.
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Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2013, Ben van der Meer, Reporter – Sacramento Business Times |
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