Forging New Links

Asian-American broke represents a shif in valley’s business property marketplace.

By Katherine Conrad, San Jose Mercury News, July 4, 2006

Commercial broker John Luk, the force behind San Jose’s Pacific Rim Shopping Center and the Bay Area’s largest Asian marketplace, Milpitas Square, now has a new focus: selling business space to the Asian community.

In a deal he struck with San Jose-based Borelli Investment, Borelli builds the office condominiums and Luk finds the buyers. They are chiefly Silicon Valley professionals who like doing business with people they know, who would rather own than rent their offices, and who tend to be Asian.

A Chinese-born American, Luk represents a shift in local commercial real estate, a lucrative business that still relies heavily on inside knowledge and trust. Brokers typically have been white.

Now that’s beginning to change, as Silicon Valley’s diverse entrepreneurs play a growing role in the office market. Developers who want to sell to small businesses need a conduit.

“We don’t speak the lingo,” said Borelli, who leads one of Silicon Valley’s oldest commercial real estate and development firms. “And we hope to sell the condominium units faster.”

Luk, who speaks Mandarin, is one of just a few Asian-Americans selling commercial real estate full time in Silicon Valley, others in the broker community said. He has been carving a niche for himself since he opened GD Commercial Real Estate in Milpitas three years ago.

It seems a likely endeavor for the man, who sees himself as a builder of bridges between cultures, communities and even continents. Asians believe strongly in property ownership and know how to pool their resources, he said, but they need a broker to help guide them through the process.

“We deal with every buyer,” he said. “The big boys don’t take time to respond to the small guys — we are the small guys.”

Though there are many Asian-Americans in the residential real estate industry, commercial real estate has attracted few Asians, said Olivia Jang of California Best Investment Realty in Cupertino.

“I know John Luk,” Jang said. “I know him, since in the Chinese community, there’s not so many commercial agents. There’s only him, me and a few ABCs — that’s what we call American-born Chinese — a few younger guys.”

Jang said the commercial side is a tough field to break into, especially if you don’t fit the stereotype.

“Most commercial agents are white males,” she said. “So for the Chinese, even the first generation born here, it’s not so easy to get into this field. Commercial real estate is hard, it’s more complicated and you need more knowledge.” For example, she said, there are no easily accessible listings for office properties, as there are for homes. Brokers have to rely on connections to get business.

Luk, who came to the United States in 1975 as a nurse, broke into the industry while caring for flower growers in the emergency room. Many could not speak English, so Luk was their interpreter.

He discovered that they needed help, first to negotiate better business deals for fertilizer and seed and then to sell their property, as their fields of flowers made way for development.

Three years ago, he decided to launch GD Commercial, where 15 brokers with roots in China, Vietnam and India work to serve Asian investors. Depending on Luk’s mood, the GD in the name either stands for global domain or good deal.

Luk expects the strategic alliance he has formed with Borelli Investment will take his firm to the next level. Luk is already marketing the commercial condos to the Asian-American community here. But his ambitions extend all the way to China, where he recently opened an office in the southern city of Guangzhou to encourage Chinese investors to buy a piece of America.

In the next few weeks, Luk said, 10 Chinese investors will tour Borelli’s condo projects in Ringwood Business Center and Junction Office Center.

The Borelli name ought to be fairly well-known among Asian-Americans, since two-thirds of his condo buyers are either Asian-born or of Asian ancestry, Borelli said. But now that interest rates are rising, leading to a slowdown in commercial condo sales, he is interested in finding new buyers for his product.

“There’s 1.3 billion people in mainland China and 1 billion people in India, and a big segment want to come to the United States,” Borelli said.

Under a program Congress established in 1990, called the EB-5 visa, an investor willing to invest $1 million and hire 10 employees in this country can get a green card after about a year.

“It is a lot of work to be the bridge,” Luk said. “But China is the largest-growing economy in the world. Why not have them come and do business in San Jose?”

Borelli, Luk said, does not know China, but he knows the Asians are valuable to his business.

Borelli isn’t the only one. Danny Yu, a commercial broker with NAI/BT Commercial, said he, Tenny Tsai and Jim Kovaleski, all BT brokers, went to China in November to check out investment opportunities.

“The economy in China is growing and a lot of individuals are making money,” said Yu, a broker since 1983. “They like to invest outside the country. There’s still a trust issue between them and their government. The rules are changing every day and they don’t know when the government will flip.”

As Luk said, “There’s a lot of millionaires in China and most of the billionaires are in their mid-30s and early 40s. The timing is getting closer and closer to encourage them to go out of their country and internationalize. This is the land of opportunities and the land of immigrants.”

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Contact Katherine Conrad at kconrad@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5073.

 

To improve its responsiveness to clients and better address market opportunities, Borelli Investment Company has promoted two of its long-time executives—shifting appropriate job descriptions and responsibilities.

In the restructuring, Buddy R. Parsons — who has been with Borelli for all but two years since 1978 — has been named president of Borelli Investment Company. Tom Purtell — who joined the firm in 1995 — has been promoted to chief operating officer. And while Ralph N. Borelli, son of founder, Nelo Borelli, has stepped down as president of the firm after nearly 30 years, he continues as CEO of Borelli Investment Company. The changes all take effect immediately.

In his new role as president, Buddy R. Parsons will be responsible for day-to-day activities in client relations, business development, sales force management, and acquisitions. Most recently, Buddy had been vice president-asset management, specializing in property and asset management, brokerage consulting services, and investment services. In the past few years, he was involved in more than 500 lease transactions and building sales for Borelli totaling approximately $70 million.

As chief operating officer for the company, Tom Purtell will oversee all day-to-day operations. In his more than a decade at Borelli, he has worked as a development partner, property manager, and an accountant. Before joining Borelli in 1995, Tom was district manager for Hollywood Video, helping to open that company’s first stores in California and direct its rapid growth phase.

Borelli Remains as CEO; Wins Awards

So, what will Ralph Borelli do after nearly 30 years as the sole person at the helm of Borelli Investment Company? Plenty. By freeing himself of much of the day-to-day decision-making, Ralph can focus on Borelli Investment Company’s longer-range vision, development projects, and the often-complicated land transactions that take place in Silicon Valley. This is a special area of expertise for both Ralph and the firm. In fact, Ralph was once again honored as the Association of Silicon Valley Brokers (ASVB) land broker of the year, repeating his win of the same award a year earlier.

The total value of Ralph’s transactions last year also earned him recognition as a CoStar Power Broker for 2005 by CoStar Group, a leading provider of information services to commercial real estate professionals nationwide. During the year, Ralph completed ten land transactions totaling nearly 504 acres and valued at $136.1 million—virtually all of that in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“Bottom line — it’s the same great people at Borelli, only now we’ll be even better able to respond to your needs,” Ralph says. “We’ve always stressed the team concept at Borelli. Beyond Buddy, Tom, and me, we have a tremendous staff of commercial real estate professionals that together deliver the highest quality service in the Bay Area. These promotions better position the firm to keep meeting our clients’ requirements for years to come.”

Harlequin His the Racetrack

NASCAR Romances a Hit with Fans

By Mark Emmons, San Jose Mercury News, June 21, 2006

Let’s just say “In the Groove” is a racy novel.

Sarah is a former kindergarten teacher forced to take a job driving the bus of jet-setting and, predictably, super-sexy NASCAR driver Lance. She’s unimpressed with his fame but, according to the back cover, “whenever he comes near her she turns hot as race fuel.”

And, of course, the spark plugs fly.

Yes, the prose is overheated — but then that’s precisely the idea. The brainchild of Pamela Britton, a graduate of San Jose’s Pioneer High School, “In the Groove” is the first collaboration between NASCAR and Harlequin.

Welcome to romance in the pits.

“When they first told me that there was going to be a Harlequin romance novel about NASCAR, I said, `You’ve got to be kidding,’ ” said driver Carl Edwards, who will race in Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma.

“But I’ve since seen women at the racetrack, sitting there, reading these books. So if you’re going to be reading a romance book, you might as well read about auto racing.”

Somebody’s reading it. Released in February, “In the Groove” had a first printing of 200,000 copies. Britton’s second book, “On the Edge,” comes out in the fall, and she is working on a third. There are plans for about two dozen NASCAR romance novels by various authors.

Britton, 40, a longtime race fan and self-taught writer, also is a symbol of how successfully NASCAR has barreled into popular culture. Britton said she even signed more autographs than driver Jeff Gordon at this year’s Daytona 500.

“I’m just your average, ordinary, everyday person who got lucky in this publishing thing,” Britton said. “And to hear so many people talking about this just blows my mind. Women have embraced the book, and their husbands have, too.”

Macho NASCAR gearheads reading romance books? That, Britton believes, is the secret of her success.

Finding the right gear

Stock car racing and steamy romance stories ought to mix like, well, Chevys and Fords. NASCAR traditionally has been a mostly Southern male thing — a testosterone-fueled world of beer and motor oil.

But the sport now has a wide, and growing, audience. NASCAR’s annual foray to Infineon Raceway is Northern California’s biggest one-day sporting event. The TV ratings are second only to the NFL’s, and among its 75 million fans are 30 million women.

From Harlequin’s perspective, the women of “NASCAR Nation” represent an untapped market.

“I know people think this is funny, but we’ve had love stories set in hospitals, in war time, and all over the world,” Harlequin spokeswoman Marleah Stout said. “So why not in NASCAR, too?”

That’s an idea Britton had been pitching for years.

She always loved racing, competing in BMX as a kid and later graduating to drag racing (she reached speeds of more than 120 mph in her 1967 Camaro in local events). She also worked as a scorer for NASCAR truck races.

But Britton, who had attended college for just a year and was working in a San Jose commercial real-estate office (Borelli Investment Company), also harbored a desire to write — a dream inadvertently inspired by her first husband.

“My ex didn’t think I had the ability to write books, so he kind of challenged me to do it,” she said.

A reader of romance novels, she decided to try writing one in 1996. Two years later she sold a historical love story and a career was born. Among her 15 books are titles such as “Cowboy Trouble,” “Seduced” and “Enchanted by Your Kisses.” Over the years, she also kept working on racing stories.

“But I couldn’t sell them to save my life because nobody on the West Coast knew what NASCAR was,” Britton said.

Then last year Harlequin published her stock car book “Dangerous Curves.” Britton encouraged the publisher to contact NASCAR about licensing a series of racing stories. NASCAR, which had expanded into unlikely areas such as women’s fashion and housewares, went lug nuts.

“In the Groove” follows the standard Harlequin formula of a plucky heroine and hunky guy who, in this case, meet when he literally drives into her. The cover, complete with NASCAR’s logo, disguises the fact that it’s a romance novel. (Hint: There’s no Fabio.)

“It looks like a guy book,” Britton said. “Now when you turn it over, you can see it’s a romance. But it has not stopped guys from reading this book.”

Britton said the romance novelists who find mainstream success attract some male readership. She believes her books do that with their accurate portrayals of the sport.

“The thing men like is that I get stuff right about the technical parts of racing,” she said. “I take pride in the fact that I can tell you what gear a car will be in coming off pit road into Turn Two at Dover. If I don’t know, I call up Doug.”

That would be Doug Richert, the crew chief for driver Greg Biffle. Britton and Richert, a Saratoga native who attended Lynbrook High School, have been friends for years.

“As she would get ideas for her books and tell me about them, I would say, `Well, I would do it like this,’ ” Richert said. “She really wanted to make sure it sounded like she knew what she was talking about. She was even in Charlotte with us at this past Coca-Cola 600 just sitting in the garage taking notes.”

Because Britton also has a growing number of teenage readers, she makes sure her NASCAR books are PG-13. The off-the-track action, so to speak, happens behind closed doors.

The romance novel idea has caught on so well in NASCAR that Edwards even has a cameo in an upcoming book written by another author.

“I don’t get the girl, but I’m helping the guy get the girl,” Edwards said.

Her own victory lane

What Britton got is a very nice lifestyle.

Outgoing with an easy laugh, she lives in the town of Cottonwood, near Redding, on a 15-acre ranch with her husband and their 5-year-old daughter. She hasn’t lost her drive — writing about 20 pages a day while sitting in a coffee shop.

Britton’s husband, Michael Baer, will chide her playfully not to get a big head when she travels in NASCAR country because now she is recognized. But back home, most people don’t know what she does.

If anyone speaks ill of the romance novel genre to her, though, they will probably get an earful.

“Whenever I get a question about writing `those’ books, I always ask if they ever watch `those’ movies, like `Sleepless in Seattle,’ ” said Britton, who will be signing books at Infineon this weekend. “Everybody likes romance, and I’m very proud of what I do.”

The novel she’s writing now is about an aerospace engineer who is thrown into the NASCAR world and falls for a team owner.

“But I’m halfway through, and I’ve really started to like the driver,” Britton said. “So now I’m thinking that maybe she should end up with him instead. He’s kind of a Kurt Busch type,” referring to one of NASCAR’s bad boys. “So I’m not sure yet.”

Either way, the motors will be revving.

Borelli Investment Company has announced that, after considerable behind-the-scenes work with the City of San Jose’s planning department and other city officials, both Junction Office Center in San Jose’s Golden Triangle and AirTech Office Condominiums in the highly desirable airport area have been approved for medical and dental uses.

This means that MD’s in a variety of specialties, as well as dentists, chiropractors, acupuncture specialists, and other health professionals can take advantage of the benefits of business property ownership at either of these office condominium complexes.

“We have suites starting from as small as 750 square feet,” said Ralph Borelli, CEO of Borelli Investment Company. “This puts ownership within the reach of practices of almost any size. Medical professionals can purchase the real estate through their practice or as an individual—whatever they and their CPA deem is most favorable for their individual financial situation.”

Two Outstanding San Jose Locations

Borelli’s latest office condominium complex is Junction Office Center—a two-building, 77,404 square foot complex at 2051 – 2055 Junction Avenue in San Jose. The buildings are located in the heart of the famous Golden Triangle, formed by the intersections of I-880, Hwy 101, and Hwy 237. This prime location puts a practice in the middle of a busy office and industrial area, with high-traffic retailers such as Fry’s Electronics close by. In addition, the office staff will enjoy easy commutes via the major transportation arteries or light rail, a few blocks away.

Junction Office Center offers 52 office condos in total, with nearly 60 percent of Phase I already sold or in escrow. The two-story buildings have benefited from $10 million in renovations and upgrades, including new elevators, all new interiors, new windows, with new offices & doorways, large high tech-equipped common conference room, the latest heating and air conditioning systems, large multi-stalled restrooms with showers, extensive landscaping improvements, ADA accommodations, a new roof, and high-speed Internet service. Patients will enter through an impressive formal lobby with polished granite floors and high ceilings. Ample parking is right at the door.

AirTech Office Condominiums is a two-story garden office complex, with 42 condo units and nearly 56,000 square feet of space total. Fully 90 percent of the offices are sold or in escrow, so buyers need to hurry. More than $3 million in improvements made by Borelli Investment Company include a high-speed T1 line for Internet service, large high tech-equipped common conference room, individual temperature-adjusted suites, a high-speed elevator, large multi-stalled restrooms, a full seismic upgrade, new roof, and attractive landscaping improvements.

Both office condominium complexes provide the built-in backbone infrastructure required for customized medical and dental offices.

“As sophisticated as most medical professionals are, many don’t realize that the significant tax advantages of business ownership are so readily available,” Borelli commented. “These advantages include a special IRC Section 179 write-off of up to $105,000 in the first year, accelerated depreciation from cost segregation, and other deductions for taxes and interest. Plus, SBA financing requires as little as ten percent down.”

Medical Uses Create Healthy Market

There has been a healthy amount of interest in medical usage of office condominiums for some time, so Borelli expects the market to come to life quickly.

“Office condominiums represent an ideal investment for smaller medical practices,” noted Borelli. “Legitimate deductions can be applied to reduce taxes on high earnings, and at the same time, a practice can control its long-term occupancy costs while capitalizing on potential value increases. It really makes so much sense that a broad range of individuals and practices can benefit.”

For more information, contact Larry Bengiveno  for Junction, or Buddy Parsons for AirTech, or call (408) 453-4700. Or interested parties can visit the property development web sites by clicking on the logos at the bottom of this page.

Tom Purtell Named Chief Operating Officer of Borelli Investment Company

Will handle day-to-day operations-from technology systems to accounting

San Jose, Calif., June 14, 2006 — Tom Purtell has been promoted to chief operating officer of Borelli Investment Company, a leading San Jose-based provider of commercial real estate services, it was announced by Ralph N. Borelli, CEO. Previously asset manager and director of information services for the firm, in his new role Purtell will oversee all day-to-day operations for Borelli.

The company provides a wide range of services for commercial real estate including property management, sales and leasing, land sales and repositioning, syndicated real estate investments, property development, construction management, asset management, and court-appointed receiverships. “We are involved in an unusually diverse set of activities,” said Borelli. “This creates unique operating challenges on a daily basis. We are fortunate that Tom possesses a special combination of skills that will allow him to deal effectively with whatever challenges we might face.”

Purtell first joined Borelli Investment Company’s accounting department in 1995. His responsibilities soon expanded to include management of technology systems—including Borelli’s first web site and e-mail system, property management responsibilities, and project development. Most recently, Purtell developed Borelli Investment Company’s Junction Office Center, a 77,400 square foot office condominium project currently for sale in North San Jose’s Golden Triangle.

Before joining Borelli, Purtell was involved in the expansion of Hollywood Video, establishing a strong presence in Northern California with the opening of 11 stores. Prior to his work at Hollywood Video, Purtell also gained work experience in banking and finance.

Purtell holds a degree in accounting from San Jose State University. He is a member of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and the Aircraft Operators and Pilots Association (AOPA). He resides with his family in Gilroy.

Borelli Investment Company is one of the oldest commercial real estate firms in the Santa Clara Valley, with more than 50 years of experience.  The company provides a full range of commercial real estate services-from development and construction management to land sales and consulting for sales and leasing.  More information about Borelli Investment Company’s services may be obtained by calling (408) 453-4700 or visiting www.borelli.com.

Contact: Ralph Borelli, CEO Borelli Investment Company 1770 Technology Dr. San Jose, CA 95110 Ph: 408.453.4700 Fax: 408.453.4636 E-mail: ralph@borelli.com

http://www.borelli.com