Construction begins on new buildings in Vacaville Corporate Center

02/26/2005 09:01:22 AM

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Construction begins on new buildings in Vacaville Corporate Center

By Barbara Smith/Business Writer

Work continues on the framing for the foundation of new office warehouse buildings off Vaca Valley Parkway and Interstate 505 in Vacaville. (Joel Rosenbaum/The Reporter)

The scarcity of large office space in Vacaville should be somewhat relieved following the planned summer opening of a two-level professional center in north Vacaville.

Sacramento-based Buzz Oates Enterprises is building the Vacaville Corporate Center in the Vacaville Business Park - a 105,307-square-foot 'Class A' building on 8.27 acres at the northwest corner of Vaca Valley Parkway and Cessna Drive - just off Interstate 505.

Kevin Ramos, president of Buzz Oates Real Estate, a division of Buzz Oates Enterprises, said the firm has been building in the park for years and has owned the land for some time. The explosion of growth in the northeast sector had much to do with the firm's decision to build now, he said.

"We felt it was the right time for an office building on that land," Ramos said. "It's a higher profile location, and we wanted to put some nicer buildings up in that area."

And Vacaville doesn't have much office space available, he added.

"It's a building that can be office space, it can accommodate very large users that want cost effective space, it can also accommodate smaller users," Ramos said. "And it can accommodate the biotech industry, which Vacaville has its fair share of."

The $15 million project should be completed in July, Ramos said.

Mike Palombo, Vacaville's economic development manager, said while there is smaller office space scattered around the city, what is lacking is the larger space. In a sense, the Buzz Oates building will be the largest "spec" building in Vacaville, he said.

"There is a demand, but very limited supply to fill it, and much of that demand is currently local," Palombo said. "There have been over the past year and a half about five different inquiries made about office availability. and since we didn't have any space that was sufficient size available, those inquires went on to other locations."

Vacaville has seen some large buildings open up including two on Mason Street - one the recently opened Gateway office building. But most of the spaces in those buildings were leased before the buildings were even competed, Palombo said.

"We have very limited amount of office space, and even those we have are limited because of the way they are developed," he said.

Other companies simply build their own large space, such as the Travis Credit Union building overlooking the city.

"When a company comes in and wants a significant amount of space, they have to build it," Polombo said. "So this (the Buzz Oates development) is a welcome development because it will give us something that we have not had which is available office space of quality and quantity."

Square footage offered in the Buzz Oates buildings can run from as small as 3,000 square feet to more than 25,000 square feet, according to the plans.

"Government or private sector, big users or smaller users, we try to keep in it pretty flexible," Ramos said.

This is the 10th time the firm has built the same rectangular building in the region, Ramos said. There are four in Sacramento, one in Rancho Cordova, one in Folsom, in Cypress, Stockton and one in Davis, which can be seen from Interstate 80 and is home to two labs.

Lease rates are $1.85 to $2 a square foot, Ramos said.

Additionally, Buzz Oates has plans to break ground in July and August on five other buildings between Cessna Drive and Beechcraft Street in the same business park.

Barbara Smith can be reached at business@thereporter.com.