Floyd Rothenberger, better known as JR, has been serving up some of THE BEST Bar-B-Que west of the Mississippi for the past 29 years. Having started his career at a young age working with his father in the family roofing business (ROOF General Roofing), JR progressed to become the preferred roofer of choice for all of Sacramento’s most prominent commercial real estate developers and even roofed the personal homes of the late Buzz Oates and Joe Benvenuti.

Click here for related article in the Sacramento Business Journal.

JR’s Texas Bar-B-Que – 29 years @ 180 Otto Circle (South Sacramento)

In 1986, following over 30 years in roofing, JR met a Bar-B-Que man from Texas. After watching the process, JR noticed it looked pretty similar to his roofing tar pot and figured that cooking tar and bar-b-que couldn’t be much different. So, JR applied his best-in-class roofing skills to a best-in-class bar-b-que process and put his new smoking techiques to the test with the toughest clientele he knew… roofers (who don’t agree on anything), contractors (who always think they’re the best) and car salesman (looking for a good deal). All agreed that JR’s Texas Bar-B-Que was by far the best. As a result, JR opened JR’s Texas Bar-B-Que in November 1987 at 180 Otto Circle, near the former Campbell’s Soup Factory in South Sacramento. 

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Capitalizing on a concept first conceived in the 1970’s by NASA for growing produce in space, Casey Call, CEO of GreenWheel Farms, spent the past two years in research and development working to create a commercial grade proprietary system for growing “simply better than organic” leafy produce in a fully controlled environment (24/7) that will change the architecture of agriculture. The closed loop system produces zero waste and is a welcome technological advancement that will prevent excessive use of precious water in drought prone communities.

Click here for related story by the Sacramento Business Journal.

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Small business expansion in Sacramento area

Only days apart, Sacramento Elite Patrol and Bottles & More both closed on separate warehouse deals to expand their businesses in the midst of a struggling economic recovery. One business acquired its very own office/warehouse building in South Sacramento totaling 9,266 sq.ft. with SBA loan financing, while the other jumped from a home based business operation into a 10,872 sq.ft. leased warehouse space in West Sacramento. Clearly, there are some bright spots in the market if you know where to look. 

Click here for related story by the Sacramento Business Journal.

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Locally owned Armstrong Plumbing has faithfully served Sacramento commercial and residential customers for 50 years.  What better way to celebrate its golden anniversary than by acquiring its very own commercial building.  The new facility, at 2551 Albatross Way, is only 1/3 mile away (as the crow files) from the company’s former location, just on the other side of Capital City Freeway (off El Camino Ave). 

Click here for related articles by Ben van der Meer of the Sacramento Business Journal dated  5/28/14  5/30/14  6/6/14

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Jackson Sports Academy expands to 200,000 sq.ft. facility @ McClellan Park

Over the past seven years, Dwayne Jackson (Jackson Sports Academy) has leased multiple Sacramento area warehouse facilities in pursuit of growing his girls club volleyball franchise.  Just over a year ago, this pursuit lead Jackson to McClellan Park, where Brian Jacks (East West Commercial Real Estate Broker) represented him for the 10-year lease of almost 75,000 square feet, which primarily houses 12 volleyball courts plus doubles for other sports and entertainment venues as well.  It was always Jackson’s goal to one day expand to offer basketball and indoor soccer too.  McClellan Park’s free-span hangars were the perfect solution with a sea of parking right out front.  Now, with the opportunity to host basketball tournaments in connection with Matt William’s Jam On It Basketball Academy, Jackson Sports Academy and East West Commercial have secured an expansion that totals almost 200,000 square feet, making it the largest basketball facility in Northern California.

Click here for a press release by the Sacramento Sports Commission and related articles by the Sacramento Business Journal and News Radio KFBK.  Click here for a news story by KCRA Channel 3 and video of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League Tournament held April 2014 at Jackson Sports Academy.

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It’s still a tenant’s market out there… and its been that way for quite some time here in the Sacramento area.  Commercial property owners know all to well that savvy tenant’s have the upper hand when it comes to negotiating new or renewal leases.  However, not being armed with the right information (and trying to go it alone) can lead to less than stellar results.  

Photo by the Sacramento Business Journal

The Sacramento Business Journal discussed in a recent article how Rob Fauble, owner of The Beat (a record store in Midtown Sacramento), lost his commercial property lease after 19 years in business at 1700 J Street.  Although Rob make the right decision to hire a local Sacramento commercial real estate broker, he was still unsuccessful in cutting a deal with the landlord to let him stay.  Occasionally, a commercial property owner has the opportunity to upgrade a tenant with a national company, who can pay more rent and create value for the property… such as the case with The Beat’s former location.  

More often that not, however, in this current market, tenant’s hold the necessary leverage to negotiate highly favorable lease terms for commercial property throughout the greater Sacramento area.  Continue reading below for a list of do’s and dont’s to learn how tenants can best prepare for this important task.

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Living in Sacramento, its easy to take for granted that we actually reside in the State Capitol of California, which represents the 9th largest economy in the entire world.  At times, a healthy reminder is in order to draw attention to this remarkable privilege that we all share.  Important matters are considered and decided every day inside the venerable halls of the State Capitol.  We are certainly fortunate to now have our very own local correspondent, Christopher Arns (Sacramento Business Journal), who has already written over 40 stories covering legislative activities surrounding the State Capitol since January.  

It is incumbent upon citizens to communicate with legislators to ensure their voices are heard.  It is within this context I participated last week in the 4th Annual Legislative Summit at the State Capitol, hosted by the California Asian Chamber of Commerce.  Pat Fong Kushida (President & CEO of the CalAsian Chamber) led four teams who met with over 40 legislative offices to discuss pro-business issues including workforce development, taxation, economic development, and regulatory reform.  It was a terrific day with open dialogue and a distinct willingness to come together.

California State Senator Jim Nielsen (third from left) with CalAsian Chamber lobby team

One such meeting took place with Senator Jim Nielsen (see picture above), where team representatives connected on a personal level, sharing concerns and ideas for improvement in various areas.  This scene repeated itself many times throughout the day as we walked the halls, transitioning from one meeting to the next.  In a fitting culmination of events, the CalAsian Chamber lobby teams capped off the evening with a tasteful reception with dozens of legislators and staffers, along with community and business leaders.

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Local Sacramento food truck operator, Andrew Blaskovich (aka “Drewski”), has been on the Sacramento scene for over two years now, serving up gourmet sandwiches to hungry crowds.  With well over 15,000 Twitter and Facebook followers, he is most certainly a force to be reckoned with and has been recognized by Food Network as one of the Top 10 food truck operators in America.  Drewski’s has received rave reviews in local print and media and is currently ranked #1 on the KCRA “A” List and was voted #1 best Food Truck by Sacramento News & Review

In a growing trend, the success of food truck operators has convinced some to open brick-and-mortar locations as well.  For Blaskovich, his foray into the brick-and-mortar restaurant business started with a Midtown Sacramento commercial property operated by Republic, a large sports bar, located across from the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.  He partnered with the owners to provide his signature dishes and experienced tremendous success ever since.  Drewski’s second brick-and-mortar location is essentially a small café positioned within the lobby of a commercial office building on Iron Point Road in Folsom.  However, Drewski’s third brick-and-mortar really takes the cake.

Click here for related articles written by the Sacramento Bee, Cowtown Eats, and Sacramento Business Journal.

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Comstock’s Magazine published a terrific article in this month’s edition discussing the need for Sacramento commercial property landlords to relax long-standing tenant requirements for attracting startup tech companies that desperately need space to foster innovation.  The article explains how Hacker Lab, a non-profit technology incubator, recently expanded its commercial space by more than 10x by relocating to a Midtown Sacramento office / warehouse building that lends itself to creative work space.  Sacramento commercial real estate broker Brian Jacks, who handled the lease transaction, was quoted in the article as saying “it wasn’t an easy deal, but fortunately the landlord was willing to take a chance.”  A few short months later, Hacker Lab finds itself at the epicenter of a movement that is culminating with Startup Weekend, a global event in local cities that brings programmers, designers and entrepreneurs together to launch their own startup company in 54 hours.  Excitement is building.  The City of Davis recently announced a new staff position called ‘Chief Innovation Officer’ that was assumed by industry veteran Rob White.  White toured a mixed-use commercial building last week, located just one block from the U.C. Davis campus, which he agrees would be a perfect fit for a Hacker Lab type organization.  Students and industry professionals need a place other than coffee shops where they can meetup to collaborate on technology and innovation projects that will help take the Sacramento region to the next level.  Click here for related article.  

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It’s always nice when a plan comes together.  East West Commercial Real Estate of Sacramento helped Jackson Sports Academy (JSA) relocate into a 72,000 sf building at McClellan Park in December 2012.  As a result, JSA’s non-profit arm, Jackson Sports For Athletes, has been able to expand its scholarship program to include recipient Hannah Heckman, whose story was recently shared in a feature article by The North Sac News.  

In addition to providing assistance for individual players, JSA’s community outreach regularly provides sport court facilities for local charter school students, enabling them to accumulate physical education credits.  One such beneficiary of this program is Community Collaborative Charter Schools (CCCS), who practically shares a parking lot with JSA at McClellan Park, creating much improved access to the program.

Other related programs offered through JSA include Harold Pressley’s Treat’em Like A King (TLK Foundation).  Pressley is a former Sacramento King, who partners with JSA to host basketball camps, which introduce at-risk and disadvantaged youth to sporting opportunities that would otherwise not be available to them.

JSA is a true partner in the community and is to be commended for its excellence and dedication to fostering opportunities for local youth to achieve their dreams.

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