The deal comes six months after Salesforce.com Inc. bought 14 acres in San Francisco’s Mission Bay district, effectively converting 2 million square feet of potential life sciences space into headquarter offices for the cloud computing giant.

It also comes as lease rates are climbing, vacancy rates are falling and tech companies are moving …

Read more: Tech boom spurs more bio building | San Francisco Business Times

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According to the Contra Costa Times, “buses will run every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with 10-minute intervals during morning and evening rush hour, on a proposed three-mile loop between Jack London Square and West Grand Avenue.” A secondary goal of the shuttle service is to alleviate traffic congestion while still transporting residents and local business professionals of North Oakland and Uptown neighborhoods downtown. Once installed, city officials will consider extending shuttle hours past 7p.m. if the route proves to be successful.

Click here to view Jack London Square proposed shuttle route

The 4th quarter of 2008 proved to be turning point in the market. Little change has been seen in vacancy and rental rates over the past 8 quarters. In the 4th quarter more than 442,000 square feet of office space has become available. 200,000 square feet of this in the Class A Oakland market alone. A major contributor is APL at 1111 Broadway. In December the company announced it will be departing Oakland and leaving behind a sublease of approximately 160,000 square feet. Emeryville has also seen a jump in vacancy due mostly in part to a surge in subleases. 70,000 square feet of space became available at 6401 Hollis, after Leapfrog reported financial losses. Bishop, Barry, Howe, Haney, & Ryder have also announced a full floor sublease available at 2000 Powell Street in Emeryville.

It is a tenant’s market. With a bucket of subleases available in Class A office product around the East Bay, terms have become negotiable and flexible. The magnitude of the current market conditions has forced previously unyielding landlords to sign leases on flexible terms in order to compete.

Jafco, OrbiMed Advisors and Fisk Ventures have combined and funded Alameda based Singulex $19 million. Singulex which is a developer of single molecule detection technology said the new funding will provide enough resources to develop their immunoassay technology that is used in diagnostics field.

On January 22, 2009, development teams AMB Property Corp./California Capital Group and Federal Development LLC will submit their applications to the Oakland Redevelopment Agency for their proposals on the redevelopment of Oakland’s Army Base near the Bay Bridge. Previous development teams Catellus/ProLogis and First Industrial Realty have removed themselves as potential candidates due to economic hardships. The Oakland Army Base may become the “gateway” for Oakland in the future with retail centers mixed with office use and possibly a hotel.

One of Oakland’s cherished landmarks Fox Theatre has completed its $80 million renovation and seismic retrofit. The theatre that has a capacity of 3000 in addition to the Oakland School for the Arts will have its grand opening in February of 2009. The leading engineering and architectural firm KPA Group served as the main structural engineer for this project. The City of Oakland owned theatre will eventually offer live entertainment, clubs, restaurants and special functions for the public.

Emeryville based Fliqz, providing online video technology, in its third round of funding has raised $6 million. Fliqz has announced that the new funding will be used for development, international expansion and also to increase sales organization. Fliqz manages a network of more than 18,000 sites to date.