BofA opts to lease new center

Local incentives keep 1,200-worker operation

In probably the biggest deal of its kind ever in the Sacramento area, Bank of America has agreed to lease a mammoth loan-processing center in Rancho Cordova for 1,200 employees who now work less than a mile away.

Sacramento developers Carl D. Panattoni and Ben Catlin will build the 187,500 square-foot center, which is expected to cost more than $20 million.

Bert Giannelli, a commercial appraiser with the Roseville firm of Giannelli, J arrette & Fillipiak, said Wednesday the loan center would be both the largest private sector lease and build-to-suit project in the capital region in recent years and probably ever.

"There have been some down around 150,000 square feet, " Giannelli said, "but nothing this big that we could find."

Though bank officials would not speculate about future growth, up to 1,500 employees eventually could work in the center -which almost wound up being moved to Phoenix, where the bank has retail and office operations and also owns property.

Some $3 million in subsidies, from Sacramento County, the state and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District helped persuade the bank not to leave the capital.

"Three main factors influenced our decision to remain in Rancho Cordova," said BofA spokeswoman Janet Papalia in San Francisco. "They were the high quality of our employees, the cooperation from Sacramento County in coming up with an attractive incentive package and the long-term strength of the Sacramento economy."

The center, scheduled to open in November 1997, will be built on a triangular, 15-acre site between Zinfandel Drive, White Rock Road and Data Drive. The two-storybuilding will take up most of the parcel.

The deal was put together by Sacramento brokers Tom Aguer and Frank Pipgras of Aguer Pipgras Associates and Gary Arabian of the CAC Group in San Francisco. Aguer said Panattoni-Catlin was selected from several top-flight developers who wanted to build the new center.

The bank's loan-processing operation now is housed in about 170,000 square feet in four brick buildings in the Capital Center II office park at the southeast corner of White Rock Road and Prosp~ Park Drive. The bank's lease Or that property, with the Galbreat Co. of California, runs out next fall.

Jon Snyder, senior vice president in Sacramento for Galbreath, sa Wednesday that replacing the cen would not be a problem in the booming office market along th Highway 50 corridor.

"We were sorry to lose the bar but our only concern now is tha they are able to get out on time, "Snyder said. "We don't want to miss the window of opportunity

Bank of America' s incentive package will defer most construction-related fees for five years, without incurring interest saving the company about $617,000. The county also will forgive at least $630,000 in various taxes over at least nine years. The package also includes a state grant of up to $1.5 million for employee training and $900,000 in electric rate discounts from SMUD.

In return, the bank agreed to lease its new center for 10 years and to maintain a work force of more th: 1,150 full-time employees.