Stuart A. Graiwer

Graiwer said he has noticed a healthy rebound in the commercial real estate market.

"The overwhelming bulk of investments we're seeing are being made in targeted areas that have avoided some of the worst of the recession - Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York and Seattle."

In particular, he added, investors are aggressively pursuing high-quality core institutional investments - newly built, leased office and multi-family properties in prime locations.

"Pension fund money is chasing these assets," Graiwer said, "because, while the returns are lower, they are still favorable as compared to treasuries and other alternative pension fund investments."

Those types of assets are valued because they are a place to put capital for the long term, he added.

Some of the newer offices and multi-family apartment complexes are heavily targeted, Graiwer added, and have driven prices higher and generated more transactions.

But Graiwer said that he has noticed less of an appetite for investing in a property to reposition or rebrand it, and owners still see risk in pushing rent increases on tenants.

Among his significant matters, Graiwer, on behalf of a fund advised by JP Morgan Investment Management Inc., negotiated a joint venture and development deal with Tishman Speyer to develop two new office buildings in downtown San Francisco. The deal closed last year.

One of the buildings, at 222 Second Street, is a planned 30-story office tower and, Graiwer said, is the largest new office development in downtown San Francisco in several years.

The other will be a 10-story office building designed for technology and media companies.

Graiwer also helped close a major acquisition for a fund advised by JP Morgan Investment Management for a Seattle office building portfolio valued at $480 million, representing the single largest office transaction on the West Coast in 2011, he said.

Assessing the current real estate climate, Graiwer said, "Regardless of your political views of the election, the election, in and of itself, did bring a certain degree of certainty to the market. Certainty is always better than uncertainty. We know that we have another four years of the Obama administration, regarding taxes and spending, and we can anticipate that."

Beyond that, he added, "Continue to expect a low interest rate environment, which will hopefully continue to increase liquidity in the marketplace and increase transaction volume."

- PAT BRODERICK