A demonstration on how to correctly plant a tree.

Staci and Jesse take a break for a photo.

But while the retailers at Apple or Levi's have the resources to effectively sell to tourists and foreigners, global marketing can be a big challenge for the smaller businesses in real estate.

Over the weekend, SF Chronicle's James Temple explored what some local real estate companies are doing. He talked with Alexis about one of our most interesting marketing initiatives -- our interactive advertising for international sales.

Wrote Temple,

AGI Capital, which most recently co-developed the 246-unit SoMa Grand project on Mission Street, is working with a technology marketing firm to seek overseas buyers. Alexis Wong, the company's president and chief executive officer, said it is using the Internet "as a tool to educate and also influence buyers' decisions to invest foreign monies into Bay Area real estate." Preferably in buildings they've built.

You can see our international marketing program in full swing at www.newinsf.com, where we've put up a new Web site to capture the attention of newly arrived buyers and inspire them to take a closer look at SoMa Grand.

The program is off to a great start. Thus far, the key has been the highly targeted nature of online ad buying and the high comparative cost of generating sales lead through traditional channels. The numbers eventually make sense.

On the Web, the perfect customer is out there. You just need to cast the net widely enough.

Here's the rest of the article.

The magazine put Alexis in the "Bricks + Mortar" category where she accompanies David Gottfried, founder of the US Green Building Council, Laurence Kornfield, the City's chief building inspector, Dwight Alexander, the City's Planning Department president, and Maria Ayerdi, executive director for the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, among others.

That's some very good company -- but the magazine thinks its appropriate. As the editors wrote:

If you were a developer and your current pipeline of residential projects -- ones that bring a sophisticated gloss to otherwise-gritty areas of Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco, including the new 246-unit Soma Grand on Mission -- was worth more than $750 million (and if you had roped in the investing clout of CalPERs and TMG), you'd be on this list too.

The obvious value of this kind of attention is that it helps AGI build greater brand equity in future dealings -- and of course the affirmation inspires us to continue improving ourselves and be better at what we do.

But perhaps more important, AGI Capital is a minority/woman-led business. Being tagged as a key civic leader here in San Francisco helps Alexis set an example. Simply put: being Asian or female shouldn't deter anyone from developing quality projects in this community.

So who would be on Ms. Wong's own list of influential people? Her grandmother first and foremost, she says. And probably another influential local Asian woman: Fiona Ma, the former San Francisco supervisor who is now State Assembly Majority Whip in Sacramento.

What's been remarkable at SOMA Grand has been how far the entire community has come toward our original idea. When we first conceived of it, we thought we'd have a lot of work to do just to convince Bay Area buyers that this was a neighborhood worth investing in. Yet today we find plenty of other voices saying the same thing.

The SF Business Times article below is a great case in point. It also has lots of great comments from our partners at TMG Partners and Joie de Vivre. We reproduced it here for your enjoyment.

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NEW SOMA GRAND FUELS PROPERTY RUSH
Condo tower signals neighborhood's shift from beat to sweet

San Francisco Business Times

by J.K. Dineen

Friday, December 7, 2007

The opening of the SoMa Grand condo complex, coupled with the influx of 3,000 workers from San Francisco's new federal building, is creating a land rush for investors and restaurateurs looking to get a foothold on and around the long-downtrodden stretch of Mission Street between Sixth and Ninth streets.

A neglected building that long housed a garment factory and car stereo business, 1161 Mission St. sold in 2005 for just over $100 a square foot. Now two years later, impresario Jon Mayeda said he can't keep up with the offers he gets on the five-story, 75,000-square-foot property across from the SoMa Grand, which he now values at $300 square foot, or $22.5 million.

"We are getting letters every other week and three or four calls a week," said Mayeda, a partner in Circolo Restaurant & Ultra Lounge. "People are always asking me about it."

The 260-unit SoMa Grand is springing to life this week, with the first closings executed Dec. 5. Moving trucks scheduled to arrive this weekend. Sales have been modest thus far with about 90 units under contract.

While some condo buyers have been hesitant to invest in an area long overrun by drug peddlers and vagrants, the project has caught on among people willing to take a chance that the gritty corridor has the potential to become an exciting and eclectic enclave. In addition to the Thom Mayne-designed federal building, the area will benefit from the beginning of construction at Trinity Plaza, which will eventually include 1,900 rental apartments at Eighth and Market streets.

Adam Chall, a partner with TMG Partners, which developed the SoMa Grand with AGI Capital, said the rate of change has been mind-boggling.

"This neighborhood story is happening faster than we can explain it to people," said Chall.

PLENTY TO EAT

But even before the new wave of residents move in, the dollars have been pouring in. At 138 Sixth St., an organic restaurant and catering business, Split Pea Seduction and Jersey Tomatoes, has opened. At 121 Seventh St. is Custom Burger/Lounge, a gourmet burger spot and bar. Around the corner from the SoMa Grand, at 139 Eighth St., Chez Papa owner Jocelyn Bulow has created Bossa Nova, a Brazilian tapas spot and nightclub.

On Sixth Street, renovations are under way for two cafes, a Vietnamese restaurant, an optometrist and large produce/grocery market, according to Jenny McNulty, executive director of Urban Solutions, which works with small businesses in depressed areas. Most of the available retail spaces along Sixth Street are now spoken for.

"You don't see it yet -- a lot of these retail spaces are leased and in the midst of tenant improvements," she said. "By March, you are going to see a really different landscape."

In addition, Joie De Vivre's Chip Conley has invested heavily in the area, signing on to provide services at the SoMa Grand and taking over management of four nearby hotels. One of those, the Hotel Britton on the corner of Seventh and Mission streets, will be reinvented as the Good Hotel and will feature an eatery called the Good Restaurant. Slanted Door owner Charles Phan plans a bistro on the ground floor of SoMa Grand, as well.

ECONOMISTS SEE GOOD TIME AHEAD

Among the new SoMa Grand owners are land use economists Claude and Nina Gruen of Gruen & Gruen Associates. Empty-nesters who are still cleaning out their 3,500-square-foot hilltop house in El Cerrito, the Gruens looked at some of San Francisco's fanciest new buildings. They considered the Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton and the St. Regis.

But ultimately the Gruens were drawn to the dynamics of a changing district. The Gruens bought two penthouses on the 22nd floor for a 2,400-square-foot unit with a 350-square-foot deck. Depending on size and views, penthouses in the building are priced between $1,000 and $1,200 a square foot.

"We think it's going to be a short time period before this area is transformed rather dramatically," said Nina Gruen.

The Gruens compare the neighborhood to the 500 block of Howard Street, where they moved their business in 1974. At the time, it was desolate and suffering from the flight of industry and warehousing. Now it's the heart of Foundry Square and the transbay district.

"That took 15 years -- this will take five years or less," said Nina Gruen. "I don't have 15 years."

Nina Gruen, who attends opera, symphony and ballet and is on the board of several arts organizations, said the neighborhood has everything she needs.

"It's flat. I can walk to my office in 18 minutes. I can walk to the opera in 12 minutes. I can walk to Yerba Buena in 12 minutes and Bloomingdale's in five minutes. I can walk to everything I do."

In the Mid-Market, she said she sees a potential for a truly mixed building with a mix of ages. Gruen said she was also turned off by the fact that many buyers in the super-deluxe projects are globe-trotters with two or three other residences.

"I don't want to live in a building where 60 percent of the owners are sporadic visitors," she said. "And it may sound funny, but I don't want to be with just people my own age."

Adam Koval, publisher of the real estate web site Socketsite, said sales at the SoMa Grand are probably behind pro formas. He said the property is competing with the Potrero and Symphony Towers on Van Ness, projects that have some smaller units starting in the $500,000s.

He said the area of SoMa is unique in the amount of capital being simultaneously dumped in a small area without much existing housing. In a real estate downturn, that can make a big difference.

"People are saying if the market isn't appreciating as much, my return is going to come from neighborhood appreciation," Koval said.

DEALING WITH CRIME

Still, petty crime remains an issue on and around Sixth Street, where addicts continue to openly smoke crack and vagrants persist in relieving themselves in doorways. San Francisco Police Lt. Steve Mannina said the quality-of-life crimes continue, but there have been improvements.

"Crime has diminished somewhat, partly because of the federal building," he said. "Officers who patrol down there are seeing improvements."

Christian Noto, whose Split Pea Seduction serves about 100 lunches a day, sees about 30 percent of trade coming from the federal building. Noto is hoping that SoMa Grand and Trinity Plaza will bring a new crop of customers.

"Some people are scared of Sixth Street, but it hasn't been so bad," he said.

Meanwhile, the days of bargain development sites in the neighborhood may be fading, according to Phil Chen of Sybarite Investments, an investor in 1161 Mission St. He said a developer has bought the property next to 1161 Mission St. and plans to build lofts there.

"Everyone is holding out for more money," Chen said. "We have canvassed the three blocks around our building. Either it's already been sold or people are asking for too much."

jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971

We love the way she described the project: "If you love amenities, then you are going to love SOMA Grand."

Watch it here:

Here's an excerpt:

Last year, AGI reported $3.3 million in revenues. Wong hopes revenues for 2007 will top $5 million. She credits smart business planning and execution for such growth in an industry with notoriously tight margins. But she also emphasizes AGI's entrepreneurial culture, which she has nurtured and incubated throughout the years.

"We've been driving our corporate growth pretty aggressively ever since we founded the company," she said. "The (results) of years of incubation are starting to take place, and the events that we planned to happen did happen, according to schedule."

It's nice to see an article put our expansion strategy into perspective. You can read the rest of the piece here.