Newly signed leases, and others on the way, will take 555 Capitol Mall to 90 percent leased.
That’s a considerable improvement from less than two years ago, when occupancy was about 56 percent. When the two-building downtown high-rise was at that mark in July 2014, Buzz Oates Group of Cos. and Rubicon Partners were part of a group that bought itfrom the original ownership.
Office-leasing figures don't include progress with ground-floor retail. On Wednesday the local coffee-house chain Old Soul Co. said it would fill one of two available spaces. Building owners hope to soon sign a "white tablecloth" restaurant for the other.
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Jason Rutherford of Colliers International said the progress is testament to both the building and the neighborhood. “The new ownership was a fresh, clean slate,” said Rutherford, a senior vice president. He and Tom Walcott of Colliers are the leasing brokers for 555 Capitol Mall.
The new owners invested in tenant amenities such as a third-floor outdoor deck/indoor meeting space. They also took advantage of the property’s location across L Street from the Sacramento Kings’ future home, Golden 1 Center. Rutherford said as a result, potential tenants are now more interested in that side of the building than the southern side facing Capitol Mall.
Those tenants are finding less and less space. Within the last month, engineering firm Stantec leased 20,000 square feet on the fifth and sixth floors. Another pending deal will take up much of the space in one building’s 12th floor. Other leases are in talks but not finalized, Rutherford said, but one will take about 7,700 square feet on the western building’s second floor.
“We don’t have any large chunks of available space in the building,” he said. Much of what’s left is the odd 1,700-square-foot space in less sexy quarters of the building, and those are often the hardest to fill, Rutherford said. “But we feel like 2016 is going to be a good year.”