LONG BEACH, Calif., Aug. 12, 2022 — Harbor Associates, LLC (“Harbor”) has completed the lease up on the Bungalows Del Mar Office despite the pandemic and work from home trends that have slowed traditional office leasing. The Bungalows Del Mar Office is a 39,537-square-foot trend setting low-rise office building in the highly desirable coastal San Diego submarket of Del Mar. Harbor vacated the building and recently completed a major $4 million trend setting and stunning renovation.
Harbor, in joint venture with the Bascom Group, LLC acquired the Del Mar office property located at 2010 Jimmy Durante Boulevard with the plan of repositioning the asset to appeal to a broader tenant base. Improvements included a complete exterior redesign, new creative office spec suites with exposed vaulted ceilings, skylights, and operable windows. To leverage the building’s location less than one mile from the beach and the Village of Del Mar, Harbor upgraded the expansive outdoor space and patio areas to create “outdoor meeting rooms” and installed a locker room with showers, and electric car chargers.
The building’s location, design, and functionality in coastal Del Mar have contributed to the leasing success during the pandemic and work from home trend, according to Harbor Principal Rich McEvoy. “Del Mar office tenants have been drawn to the exterior entries rather than enclosed hallways, restrooms accessed from outdoor common space, excellent circulation with operable windows throughout, expansive outdoor patio and meeting space, independent HVAC systems, and social distancing design plan,” said McEvoy.
Harbor also retained innovative interior designers like Tamara Romeo of San Diego Office Design who has designed several of the tenants’ spaces at the property. Tamara is one of San Diego’s most sought-after niche experts in the industry, with focused expertise in commercial interior design and brand development. “There is no shortage of office tenants searching for light, bright & modern environments. Add to that the gorgeous surrounding of the Del Mar racetrack, the restaurants and shops at the Plaza, and the coastal views from the property, and it makes our job as interior designers as easy as adding ‘frosting on the already delicious cake'” added Tamara. “As a design firm that caters to clients looking for strong cultural connections in their offices, attraction & retention of high-valued staff is part of the ROI necessary to make our services worth the investment. Our completed projects for clients in the Bungalows continue to get rave reviews, which translates to happy clients, and that makes us happy too!”
Despite office buildings being out of favor among institutional investors, Harbor continues to seek out select and contrarian opportunities in the sector to create value. “We’re pursuing acquisition strategies for similar well located and differentiated office projects that will be in demand as workers continue to return to the office, we have a robust pipeline of activity and look forward to adding to our Southern California portfolio,” added Harbor Principal Justin Loiacono.
About Harbor:
Harbor Associates, LLC is a value-add operating platform focused on acquiring and repositioning under-performing commercial real estate assets throughout Southern California and Denver. Harbor has been involved in the renovation, repositioning, and development of thirty-four office projects totaling over 4.0 million square feet with a portfolio value more than $1.0B. The company is a joint venture with The Bascom Group, LLC.
About Bascom:
The Bascom Group, LLC is a private equity firm specializing in value-added multifamily, commercial, and non-performing loans and real estate related investments and operating companies. Bascom sources value-added and distressed properties including many through foreclosure, bankruptcy, or short sales and repositions them by adding extensive capital improvements, improving revenue, and reducing expenses by realizing operational efficiencies through implementation of institutional-quality property management. Bascom, founded by principals Derek Chen, Jerry Fink, and David Kim, is one of the most active and seasoned buyers and operators of apartment communities in the U.S. Since 1996, Bascom has completed over $21.0 billion in multifamily and commercial value-added transactions including more than 354 multifamily properties containing over 100,000 units. Bascom’s commercial transaction volume is $4.0 billion in total and amounts to over 22.0 million square feet. Bascom has ranked among the top fifty multifamily owners in the U.S. Bascom’s subsidiaries and joint ventures include the Bascom Value Added Apartment Investors, Shubin Nadal Associates, Spirit Bascom Ventures, REDA Bascom Ventures, Bascom Northwest Ventures, Bascom Arizona Ventures, Harbor Associates, Village Partners Ventures, and the Realm Group. Bascom’s subsidiaries also include Premier Workspaces, one of the largest privately held executive suite, coworking and shared workspace companies in the U.S.
