Corfac News

CORFAC International companies from London, San Francisco and Silicon Valley gathered last week at TRI Commercial/CORFAC International in San Francisco for a collaborative working session to deepen ties between the CORFAC firms and develop new business with technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The meetings were hosted by TRI’s President Tom Martindale (foreground, pictured above), SIOR. Participants included Jack Knivett and Rob Rooney (Farebrother/CORFAC International in London) Josh Gispan (Meacham/Oppenheimer CORFAC International in San Jose), Jean Ko, Scott Vix, CCIM, and Barry Bram, CCIM, LEED AP, from TRI’s San Francisco office plus Bruce Wirt, SIOR, from TRI’s Roseville office.

The meetings were initiated by Knivett and Rooney after they conducted months of research on the San Francisco Bay Area Venture Capital industry and Tech companies that are actively growing here and throughout global markets, particularly in London.

The UK capital has a section of the city dubbed “Silicon Roundabout”, referring to the high volume of locally-grown digital, tech and media companies located in the East of London which has recently welcomed Google’s Campus initiative and Cisco’s new innovation centre. In addition, Farebrother tracks market drivers in Central London, especially the Midtown and South Bank submarkets, by DAMIT, or companies in design; advertising, marketing & pr; media; internet and technology & telecoms, that account for the fastest growth of absorption in London.

A highlight from the two-day visit included a luncheon at the City Club with special guest Tom Byrne, the tech guru-turned Venture Capitalist (Byrne was the President and COO of LoopNet at the time of its acquisition by the CoStar Group).

Byrne presented ideas on how to identify potential tech tenant opportunities from the VC perspective and how to incorporate emerging technologies in order to differentiate independent commercial real estate firms from the major international platforms.

“Lots of iPad time was consumed at the table with Tom Byrne doing the orchestration,” according to Martindale, who described the luncheon as “a highly energizing and productive session.”

Overall, the meetings were very positive, Martindale reported. Yet there was an element of caution.

“Although outward signs remain bullish for the tech sector, it’s becoming increasingly clear that some people are beginning to question how much longer this cycle could possibly continue. In San Francisco, it seems we’ve blown through the previous rental rate ceiling of the dot-com days with respect to “creative space” and are now in uncharted waters. The approach now is to wring as much deal volume as possible from the current wave,” said Martindale.