What SKS does

SKS Partners is a San Francisco Bay Area-focused commercial real estate development, investment, and asset management firm founded in 1992 by Paul Stein and Dan Kingsley. Over 30+ years the firm has developed 12.4 million square feet of office, life science, advanced manufacturing, and mixed-use residential real estate, holding a documented 100% entitlement success rate across 8.3 million square feet of entitled space. The firm operates four integrated service lines — Investment & Acquisitions, Entitlement, Design & Construction Management, and Asset Management — delivered through joint ventures, co-investments, and fee-based engagements with institutional investors, family offices, private equity firms, and property owners.

SKS earns revenue through a combination of development fees as general partner in JV developments, fee-based entitlement and construction management services, recurring asset management fees on owned and JV portfolios, and equity co-investment returns on completed and stabilized projects. Notable technical capabilities include pioneering mass timber construction in San Francisco at 1 De Haro (California's first multi-story fully mass timber building), extensive adaptive reuse expertise (2.3M sq ft rehabilitated), and a pragmatic sustainability track record evidenced by multiple LEED-certified projects across Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers. The firm's tenant roster spans technology (Airbnb, Google, Meta), life sciences (Genentech, Illumina, Penumbra, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub), and healthcare and academic institutions (UCSF, Sutter Health).

The current executive team is led by CEO Pamela Izzo (joined 1998, CEO since 2018 succession) with CIO Aaron Duncan (2025, ex-BGO/ASB), COO Yvonne Fisher (2018, ex-CBRE), CDO Tim Smith (2017), and CFO Robert Kelly (2019, ex-Haas). The firm is privately held, raises capital via joint ventures with institutional partners (The Prado Group, Swig, Mitsui Fudosan, A&F, Prospect Hill, Shorenstein), and reports through a Juniper Square investor portal indicating an LP/GP fund structure.

Name

SKS

Legal name

SKS Partners

Website

https://sksre.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SKS Partners is a San Francisco Bay Area commercial real estate developer, investor, and asset manager founded in 1992 that develops office, life science, R&D, and mixed-use projects for institutional investors, family offices, and major enterprise tenants across the region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Real Estate Development

NAICS

Land Subdivision (2372), Lessors of Other Real Estate Property (531190), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Land Subdividers & Developers (No Cemeteries) (6552), Investors, Nec (6799), Lessors Of Real Property, Nec (6519)

akta.pro primary industry

Real Estate Development & Feasibility Advisory (Highest-and-Best-Use, Entitlements Support) (BPAJANAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Transitional/Development Land Brokerage (Entitled, In-Path-of-Growth) (BPAJADAJ), Land Brokerage (Raw Land & Development Sites) (FSAEAJAD)

Keywords

• Commercial real estate development
• Real estate investment services
• Property entitlement services
• Asset management services
• Adaptive reuse development

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Development Fees: SKS earns development fees as general partner in joint venture developments, managing projects from land acquisition through entitlement, design, construction, and stabilization.
2. Asset Management: SKS provides ongoing asset management services for owned properties and investor portfolios, overseeing leasing, operations, and value creation throughout the investment lifecycle.
3. Co-Investment Returns: As equity co-investor in joint ventures, SKS participates in development profits and long-term appreciation of properties.
4. Fee-Based Services: SKS provides fee-based entitlement and development services as general partner or service provider to property owners and institutional investors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

SKS Partners develops commercial real estate properties including office, life science, advanced manufacturing, and mixed-use residential real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. The firm provides four integrated services: Investment & Acquisitions, Entitlement Services, Design & Construction Management, and Asset Management, delivering the full development lifecycle as a general partner in joint ventures with institutional investors, family offices, and private equity firms. Since 1992, SKS has developed over 12.4 million square feet and entitled 8.3 million square feet with a perfect entitlement success rate.

Product overview

SKS Partners is a San Francisco Bay Area-focused commercial real estate development, investment, and advisory firm founded in 1992. The company operates as a single integrated platform offering four core service lines: Investment & Acquisitions, Entitlement, Design & Construction Management, and Asset Management. The firm has developed over 12.4 million square feet of innovative office, life science, advanced manufacturing, and mixed-use residential real estate, with a portfolio of notable projects including the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building, 1 De Haro (San Francisco's first mass timber building), 181 Fremont, 270 Brannan (LEED Platinum), and the Berkeley Air & Space Center at NASA Research Park. SKS positions itself as a full-service real estate partner rather than a modular software product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SKS Partners Commercial Real Estate Development Full-scale commercial real estate development of office, life science, advanced manufacturing, and mixed-use residential properties in the San Francisco Bay Area, delivered as general partner in joint venture developments with institutional investors, family offices, and private equity firms.
• Investment & Acquisitions Provides investment, acquisition, and capital partnership services for property owners, family offices, and institutional investors with flexible structuring options including joint ventures, public-private partnerships, and sale-leasebacks. SKS sources off-market opportunities and structures deals across the Bay Area.
• Entitlement Services Navigates entitlement and regulatory processes to secure development approvals, with a documented 100% success rate over 30+ years and 8.3 million square feet of entitled space delivered in the Bay Area. Covers zoning, environmental review, permitting, and community engagement.
• Design & Construction Management Delivers project management and construction management services spanning adaptive reuse to new construction, including life science, medical office, multi-family residential, and campus-format projects. Includes pioneering expertise in mass timber (cross-laminated timber) construction.
• Asset Management Provides comprehensive real estate asset management across investment lifecycles, including pre-acquisition strategy, operational management, leasing strategies, property analysis, and capital planning. Covers SKS-owned properties and third-party investor portfolios.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% entitlement success rate over 30+ year history
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered major, flagship and core.

• A&FmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2023SKS and A&F received approval for a joint office and apartment complex at Sunnyvale's Caltrain station. The project includes 280 multifamily units and 220,000 SF of Class A office space at 1154 & 1170 Sonora Court.
• UC BerkeleyflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2023SKS Partners and UC Berkeley formed a $2 billion partnership to develop Berkeley Space Center at NASA Research Park in Moffett Field. The 1.4 million square foot project will create cutting-edge R&D and academic space for aerospace, quantum computing, and deep tech research, positioning Berkeley as California's definitive innovation address.
• SwigcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2023SKS and Swig partnered to acquire 350 California Street for $61 million, acquiring the 22-story, 297,642 SF office tower in San Francisco's North Financial District at a significant discount during the market reset.
• NASA Research ParkflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023NASA Research Park at Moffett Field provides the location for the Berkeley Air & Space Center development, enabling collaboration with global tech leaders including NASA, Google, and Microsoft.
• GooglecoreOthers · 1 January 2019Google is the anchor tenant at 750 Moffett, a 200,000 SF Class A office building in Mountain View. SKS facilitated the acquisition and provides ongoing asset management for the international investor owner.
• The Prado GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017SKS formed a joint venture with The Prado Group to develop the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building, a 150,000 SF state-of-the-art facility co-locating mental and physical healthcare. The partnership owns the building for 35 years and leases it to UCSF.
• Prospect HillcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015SKS and Prospect Hill formed a joint venture to redevelop and reposition San Jose office buildings, including 3901 North First (65,188 SF), for new tenancy in the North San Jose market.
• Mitsui FudosancoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Mitsui Fudosan joined SKS as a development partner for 270 Brannan Street, a 182,262 SF Class A office building in San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood that achieved LEED Platinum certification.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Boston Properties (BXP): Public REIT developing Class A office and life science properties including significant Bay Area holdings. Comparable tenant quality and trophy-asset positioning, but with national scale, public market access, and substantially larger development pipeline.
• Tishman Speyer: Global commercial real estate developer, owner, and operator with established SF presence. Comparable in delivering trophy office and life science projects to institutional tenants, but operates at vastly larger scale with geographic and product diversification.
• Alexandria Real Estate Equities: Public REIT focused exclusively on life science real estate, with significant Bay Area/Mission Bay exposure. Alexandria's anchor tenants (Genentech, Illumina) overlap with SKS's life science portfolio at Oyster Point and 409+499 Illinois, but Alexandria operates nationally at massive scale.
• Hudson Pacific Properties: Public REIT focused on office and studio properties across the West Coast including major SF holdings. Direct overlap in Bay Area Class A office market, particularly SoMa and downtown SF where SKS's flagship properties (181 Fremont, 888 Brannan) are located.
• Kilroy Realty Corporation: Public REIT specializing in Bay Area and West Coast office and life science properties. Overlapping tenant roster (Google, LinkedIn, Salesforce) and life science development pipeline, but at much greater scale and as a public vehicle with permanent capital.

Regional players

• Carmel Partners: Multifamily-focused real estate investment and development firm with significant Bay Area operations. Overlap with SKS's mixed-use residential and multifamily components (Sunnyvale Caltrain station project with A&F), but primary focus on rental housing rather than office/life science.

Direct peers

• Shorenstein Company: San Francisco-headquartered real estate investment and development firm focused on Class A office. Shorenstein is both a historical employer of SKS founder Paul Stein and a current JV partner on 409+499 Illinois—operating in the same downtown SF office submarket with similar institutional investor base.
• The Swig Company: Bay Area-focused commercial real estate owner, operator, and investor with overlapping geography and asset classes (office, mixed-use). Swig is an active JV partner with SKS on 350 California Street, making them both peers and co-investors in the same Bay Area office market.
• The Prado Group: San Francisco-based real estate development and investment firm with overlapping Bay Area focus. Co-developed the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building with SKS and operates as a JV partner—the closest comparable in scale, geography, and development strategy.
• Sobrato Development Companies: Family-owned Silicon Valley commercial real estate developer focused on office, R&D, and life science campuses across the Bay Area. Highly comparable in tenant mix (tech, biotech) and Silicon Valley geography, serving similar institutional investor capital partners.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance12 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SKS