CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: Office condos for Novato, Santa Rosa

BY Jeff Quackenbush
STAFF REPORTER

NOVATO & SANTA ROSA – Two office condominium projects are set to bring 63,000 square feet in 32 units to emerging commercial areas of Novato and Santa Rosa starting at year end.

Framing is up for the four-building Larkfield Office Park project at 4855 Old Redwood Highway in the Larkfield unincorporated area north of Santa Rosa. Developer Blackstone Homes of Santa Rosa is aiming for year-end completion of the building exteriors, according to Ron Reinking, an Orion Partners agent marketing the complex.

While Blackstone doesn't have any housing projects under construction, principal Greg Lucas has other commercial projects planned. In June, he bought about a third of an acre at 3000 Santa Rosa Ave. for $200,000 and plans to build a 3,000-square-foot retail building there. Mr. Reinking and Orion agents Mike Crockett, Connie Bradley and Barry Palma brokered the deal.

Larkfield Office Park features four 8,000-square-foot single-story buildings, each with four equal-sized condos, and is the second new office condo project in the unincorporated areas of north Santa Rosa.

The first was Avion Place, a 45,000-square-foot four-building planned-unit development at Airport and Brickway boulevards near Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport.

"Avion Place blazed the trail for commercial condos in the county area," Mr. Reinking said.

The Larkfield units are priced at $300 a square foot for a "warm shell" condition, which means the units at least have installed lighting, two restrooms, insulation and climate-control plenums ready for ductwork.

With a parking ratio of 4.5 spaces per 1,000 rentable square feet, the development is targeted at medical and other professionals who want to be close to shopping venues their clients frequent.

Across the street is the 89,000-square-foot Larkfield Shopping Center anchored by upscale grocer Molsberry Market and Exchange Bank. The 36-year-old center has nearly four acres of vacant land to the south and the ability to build 29,000 more square feet in two buildings. Longs Drugs is rumored to be negotiating for a location there.

The Larkfield area has had several retail and multifamily projects built in recent years, and county officials have been looking at further development there as the county General Plan is being updated. Already about 32,000 vehicles pass the site daily, according to a recent traffic study.