Big Walnut Creek office complex is bought for more than $100 million

WALNUT CREEK A big office complex in Walnut Creek has been bought for more than million in a deal that highlights the widening weakness for values of Bay Area office buildings Ygnacio Center a three-building office hub in downtown Walnut Creek has been bought for million according to documents filed on May with the Contra Costa County Recorder s Office One of the buildings in Ygnacio Center an office complex with addresses of and North Main Street and North California Boulevard in downtown Walnut Creek Google Maps The deal suggests that the office complex s values have declined a slump that is part of what appears to be widening woes for the office sphere in the Bay Area Walnut Creek-based real estate firm Hall Equities Group headed up nine affiliates that joined forces to purchase the office complex county documents show Mark Hall a veteran Bay Area real estate executive is chairman of Hall Equities The seller was an alliance led by Hines Interests one of the nation s the bulk profitable real estate firms and OakTree Capital Management an venture firm This is a Class A building just a block away from the Walnut Creek BART station announced Jeffrey Weil an executive vice president with Colliers a commercial real estate firm Ygnacio Center s three buildings total square feet according to a website for the just-bought office hub The new price for the office complex shows that the high-profile property has lost value in a big way In January Ygnacio Center had a value of million according to information on file with the Contra Costa County Assessor s Office This means that the purchase price was below the assessed value as of early last year Yet the relatively low price the Hall Equities-led affiliates paid for Ygnacio gives the new owner certain crucial advantages in Weil s view The new owner can offer tenants attractively low rates to rent the offices yet can also make top-notch tenant improvements for the spaces he added If Hall Equities does it right this might be a great play for them Weil stated