PMI is pleased to announce a successful lease signing in San Francisco: Ubisoft, a world-renowned video game company, has extended their 42,429 square foot lease at 625 Third Street for an additional seven year term.

Ubisoft Entertainment SA is an award winning French company that is engaged in the development, publishing and distribution of video games. It offers a wide portfolio of products, such as Far Cry, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Petz, Shaun White, Driver, and Assassin’s Creed (which was recently adopted to feature film, starring Michael Fassbender). Ubisoft Entertainment SA operates through its subsidiaries, including Ubisoft Inc. in the United States, Ubisoft Ltd in the United Kingdom, Ubisoft GmbH in Germany, Ubisoft France SAS and others. The Company’s subsidiaries are located in 28 countries, such as France, Spain, the United States and China, and the Company’s distribution network covers more than 55 countries around the world. Ubisoft had sales of approximately $1.7 billion in 2016 and a book net worth of over $1 billion.
Ubisoft’s lease at 625 Third Street dates back to 2005; PMI acquired the building in 2010, during the recession. 625 Third is located in San Francisco’s desirable SOMA submarket, the city’s most popular submarket for tech and media companies. The property fronts along Third Street, a main artery carrying traffic into Downtown San Francisco and is one block away from AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. Ubisoft’s lease covers the entirety of the building (42,429 rentable square feet). They were represented by Matt Hart of Savills Studley.

We are pleased to announce our most recent acquisition and project, 1013 New Hampshire. This property was built in 1923 and consists of 4,812 square feet. It’s a two story building with four units and privatized parking and storage areas. It is located in the East Hollywood neighborhood.

PMI intends to convert the two bedrooms units into three contemporary bedroom units with two modernized bathrooms. PMI is known for taking historic architecture and transforming it into a new contemporary space while maintaining much of the exterior historical character.  These 2 bedroom one bath units will be converted into efficient three bedroom 2 bath units designed for roommates.

The location of this building is ideal for the creative millennials.  It is two blocks from the Metro Red line, which makes for easy access to other key locations in LA without the hectic traffic, containing many stops in Hollywood and Downtown LA. It has easy freeway access and is known for the walkability convenience many restaurants. It’s less than a half mile from the very desired Sunset Junction where the latest innovative cafes, coffee shops and bars thrive with their own creative individuality. Unique hot spots in the area include Cafecito Organico, a quaint cafe that many start their day at with a warm Mexican cappuccino; the original CHA CHA CHA, where you can enjoy fresh Sangria and plantains with all sorts of Caribbean flavor, and the hip speakeasy Sqirl LA, which features classic food and drinks re-imagined.

Overall, 1013 N New Hampshire once renovated, will fit perfectly within the Creative Multifamily portfolio.  This property will appeal to young creatives, who enjoy being centrally located to walkable amenities and identify with the artistic flavor of the neighborhoods.

Prices for West side Offices continue to break new records.  It is now common for class A west side office properties to break $800 per square foot.  Recently, Douglas Emmet along with a sovereign wealth fund acquired for $1,100 per square foot  233 Wilshire Boulevard, a 129,000 midrise office building in Santa Monica.  Rockwood Capital acquired a two and three story  200,000 square foot creative office building in Playa Vista for over $800 per square foot.  Most of the buyers are both foriegn and domestic institutions and pension funds starved for yield.  Cap rates are now at 4% on questionable numbers.  The pricing trend is consistent with the asset bubble resulting from historically low interest rates.

On the other hand, many Westside markets have vacancies rates under the magic 10% where Landlords believe gives them a pricing advantage.  Overall though, the Westside vacancy rate remains stubbornly  above 13% due to new product in Hollywood and Playa Vista.

We are pleased to announce the completion of renovations at 441 Coronado, a four unit apartment building 500 feet from Echo Park.  We converted a raised foundation to updated loft-like great rooms.

Exposed Loft Ceilings

We created private outdoor patios.

Individual patios

Outside Patio

This area just adjacent to Echo Park is still in development and less gentrified than the adjacent Echo Park Area.  However, millennials are attracted to the areas proximity to Echo Park amenities and its lower rents. Many new apartment buildings are being built along or near Temple Boulevard in this area.  This property demonstrates PMI’s Creative Multifamily Strategy and is located just steps from  Echo Park’s upscale dining, wine bars, boutiques, farmers markets, specialty food stores and much more!

Creative Multifamily is a new line of small, low-rise apartments that are stylish, contemporary, playful and yet, still affordable.  Unlike many of the mid rise amenity rich multifamily homes being built, our Creative Multifamily living spaces offer  modernize historical or mid century apartments with revamped  interiors and large outdoor patio spaces.  We stripped away the drywall ceilings in some units to expose and elaborate on the beauty of the high truss ceilings above.

Residents at properties like these are typically young creative’s that appreciate being located within walking distance of  amenities and among diverse cultures.

We have completed construction at 1330 Kellam Avenue, a six unit apartment complex in Echo Park.

1330 Kellam

Original Architectural Details

1330 Kellam

1330 Kellam

1330 Kellam

This property is located in the Angileno Heights district of Echo Park, Los Angeles. It is most notable for its high concentration of Victorian era residences.  In this case, the property was a 1920s Spanish revival sixplex.  We retained many of the original architectural features while still installing several contemporary features like a new ktichen and bathrooms.

Creative Multifamily is a new line of small, low-rise apartments that are stylish, contemporary, playful and yet, still affordable.  Unlike many of the mid rise amenity rich multifamily homes being built, our Creative Multifamily living spaces offer  modernize historical or mid century apartments with revamped  interiors and large outdoor patio spaces.  We stripped away the drywall ceilings in some units to expose and elaborate on the beauty of the high truss ceilings above.

Residents at properties like these are typically young creative’s that appreciate being located within walking distance of several diverse cultural amenities.

Just like we did in creative office–we exposed the wood ceiling lid and created a loft looking apartment we call “creative multifamily.” In this particular case, we converted the lower above ground foundation into a great room.

Before Conversion of the Foundation

After Conversion to a Great Room

Apparel and soft goods are out of style. Electronics, services, experiences, restaurants, entertainment, cars, and homes are in. Online shopping continues to cut into brick and mortar shopping.  As a result, many retail stores on  the Los Angeles Westside are going dark.  Vacancies are popping up even on popular streets like Robertson, Canon, and Beverly.

4234 Lockwood

We are pleased to announce the lease up of  another apartment complex located in Silver Lake near Sunset Junction.The property includes ten units located at 4234 Lockwood.

4203 Lockwood

4203 Lockwood

4203 Lockwood

In addition, we have also completed construction at 2703 Bellevue, an eight unit apartment complex in Echo Park.

2703 Bellevue

2703 Bellevue

2703 Bellevue

2703 Bellevue

This area is known for its hip atmosphere and as an up-and-coming destination for millennials. This property demonstrates PMI’s Creative Multifamily Strategy and is located just steps from  Sunset Junction’s upscale dining, wine bars, boutiques, farmers markets, specialty food stores and much more!

Creative Multifamily is a new line of small, low-rise apartments that are stylish, contemporary, playful and yet, still affordable.  Unlike many of the mid rise amenity rich multifamily homes being built, our Creative Multifamily living spaces offer  modernize historical or mid century apartments with revamped  interiors and large outdoor patio spaces.  We stripped away the drywall ceilings in some units to expose and elaborate on the beauty of the high truss ceilings above.

Residents at properties like these are typically young creative’s that appreciate being located within walking distance of several diverse cultural amenities.

We are pleased to announce the completion of renovations at 5665 Fayette Street, a six unit apartment building just north of York Boulevard in Highland Park. This was PMI’s third property in Highland Park.

Just blocks from York Boulevard – one of two major commercial corridors in this neighborhood – 5665 Fayette is in a prime location within this up and coming neighborhood. Tenants and business owners alike have been flocking to Highland Park due to the artistic flavor, proximity to entertainment jobs, and walkability to entertainment and eating venues. We are moving just as quickly to provide creative and unique housing. We  reinvented and extensively renovated this 1960 building  into a contemporary modern complex to fit the taste of the Creatives moving into Highland Park. At the same time, we  maintained and enhanced the original property’s garden character.  Further, we created several new large private patios as well as a common patio for collaboration. 

Creative Multifamily is a new line of small, low-rise apartments that are stylish, contemporary, and playful, yet still affordable. The complex retains the flavor of its era, but incorporates a totally redesigned interior. Residents at properties like this are typically young and well-educated, and appreciate being located within walking distance of several diverse cultural amenities

New Contemporary Interiors

394 Pacific

PMI Properties is pleased to announce the sale of an iconic Creative Office Building located at 394 Pacific Avenue in San Francisco. The five stories 50,000 square foot building is comprised of a 5,000 square foot storage basement and 45,000 square feet of creative brick and timber offices.  The buyers were Grosvenor Americas, a private property investment and development company.

394 Pacific Avenue was originally constructed in 1907, and was substantially renovated (including a seismic retrofit) in 1981. The property is located in  Jackson Square   between North Beach, Chinatown and the Financial District. Because the building is just a short walk from the North Financial District and just several blocks from the Central Subway’s Chinatown extension, the location will provide future connectivity to BART, Caltrain and SoMa.

The building is currently 100% leased by a variety of tech and media companies as well as a financial management firm. PMI improved the suites to expose the original brick sides and timber ceilings with heights averaging fourteen feet. These unique details characterize creative office buildings.

PMI acquired this building for $13.5 million in 2005.  The buyer paid a total consideration of close to $33 million in June of 2016.  PMI entered San Francisco at the end of 2005 in the early stages of the tech recovery from the dot com bust and continued to acquire a total of six properties through 2011.

PMI renovated older dot com suites into efficient open plan layouts, catering to tech startups including the likes of – Twitter, Yammer, Eventbrite, Zendesk and Scribd.

PMI is a thirty year old commercial property investment and management company headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA. Starting in the 1990’s, PMI was one of the pioneers in the creative office sector, by converting warehouse industrial facilities into flex creative space prior to the internet boom, and really honing in on the specific collaborative space needs for entertainment, tech and creative type companies.