Video Recap of Bisnow's San Francisco Investment Summit

CEO Christopher Peatross, who founded Swift Real Estate Partners three years ago, says the firm has launched its first fund to focus on value-add opportunities on the West Coast. Swift has acquired 2M SF of office space throughout the Bay Area, all JVs with capital partners heretofore, and will be spreading out into LA and Seattle. South of Market may be in the late innings, but peripheral areas like Mid-Market have emerged. One that got away: 1019 Market. He could have bought it and just let it sit, and "it would have been worth 40% more than when we bought the thing."

Stockbridge managing director Mark Carlson says his boutique pension fund adviser has value, core, and opportunity funds in addition to separate account clients, operating in major metros in the US. San Francisco and Silicon Valley have proven to be way more cyclical than people thought, he says, but the market has legs. He sees tech tenants that started in the Valley moving north into San Francisco instead of expanding south into San Jose, because it's all about recruiting talent, and San Fran has a vibe. (We had that in high school... it doesn't last.) What we haven't seen is a recovery in the FIRE tenants.

Allen Matkins partner Tony Natsis, who moderated our equity panel, notes Christopher and Mark have a lifetime of real estate between the two: Christopher with Catellus, Carr, Divco West, and EOP; and Mark with RREEF. On the lookout for hot markets, Tony cites all the new players that have entered the Seattle-Bellevue area within the past four years: Beacon, Kilroy, Hudson, Brookfield, and JP Morgan among them.