After successfully selling out its first 16-unit business condominium project in the Harbor Bay Business Park in Alameda, Venture Corp. of Larkspur bought a vacant parcel across the street and erected a similar 24-unit complex, which opens this week.

Venture has built or is building dozens of its business “commerce centers.” It has latched on to the concept of developments made up of attached properties for small business, manufacturers or R&D operations that are sold like residential condominiums.

When businesses buy individual units, they become members of the complex’s owners’ association and pay fees to cover the cost of upkeep, insurance, landscaping and other common expenses.

The concept offers small businesses the tax advantages of owning their own buildings and building equity over time, Venture says.

“The housing market has been flat, but the commercial property market is booming all over the nation,” said Robert Eves, Venture’s president. “Venture Commerce Centers provide small businesses, typically with fewer than 20 employees, with all the benefits of property ownership and none of the disadvantages of renting.”

The second phase of Venture’s Alameda Commerce Center development consists of 24 business properties, ranging from about 1,224 to 2,734 square feet in three separate buildings.

Individual units in each of the three major buildings feature different architectural treatments, giving the development the look of a small town square. Larger units have two-story offices on the front and a 21-foot tall “flex area” in the back. Flex areas are often used for additional offices, R&D work space, warehousing, distribution, light manufacturing, high-tech operations and dozens of other activities, the company says. The larger units feature a roll-up truck door in the rear. Smaller properties are all-office designs without rear flex areas.

High-speed Internet access and telephone wall jacks are positioned throughout the first- and second-floor offices. Even parking spaces are assigned. The Alameda complex provides 3.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of building area, so for example a 2,500-square-foot property would include nine spaces.

Prices for units in phase two range from $559,000 for a 1,684-square-foot unit to $709,000 for a 2,734-square-foot one, according to the company’s Web site.

In early 2002, Venture officials said they started receiving phone calls from small businesses wanting to purchase buildings with a relatively small floor space, between 2,000 and 5,000 square feet. Few were available, with the exception of a handful of older homes and converted gas stations. The calls did, however, start a discussion within the company about the feasibility of constructing small commercial office and research-and-development buildings for smaller companies for purchase rather than lease.

Venture built its first commerce center at its Morgan Hill Ranch development, Silicon Valley’s largest business park. The company said it was an immediate success and it quickly started similar projects in other Bay Area locations. Venture says it is involved in about 40 projects, throughout the western United States, at a value of more than $600 million. About 2.3 million square feet is in various stages of development all over the West, with new projects in Las Vegas; Snoqualmie, Wash.; and Portland, Ore.

Venture will host an open house at the new commerce center at 2213 Harbor Bay Parkway Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Source:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/20/BUGTLONU3N1.DTL&hw=real+estate&sn=006&sc=370