History

In the early 1970s, Stephen J. Coates and N. Gary Sowards were working as regional property managers for a large west coast, full-service real estate firm, Norris, Beggs & Simpson Companies. They believed that there was a need for a small, aggressive property management company, and, in the midst of the growth boom in Silicon Valley, Coates & Sowards, Inc. was born—a full-service brokerage specializing in fee management.

Since 1977, Coates & Sowards, Inc. has managed over 10,000,000 square feet of shopping centers, office buildings, and industrial buildings, providing quality management services to businesses and individuals throughout northern California.    In 1979 Coates & Sowards, Inc. achieved the designation of Accredited Management Organization (AMO), which it maintains today.  Worldwide, there are only approximately 500 management companies that carry this designation.

Shopping Centers are their prime concentration of activity followed by suburban office buildings and industrial buildings.  Coates & Sowards, Inc. completes about 100 leases per year.  The firm has represented its clients in the purchase or sale of over $250,000,000 in real estate transactions.

Coates & Sowards, Inc. prefers to work closely with property owners who appreciate a long-term commitment to property management and wish to establish a business relationship with the firm’s principals.

Since Gary’s retirement in 2009, his son, Jason, has assumed his ownership role, and with Kevin Coates, they now represent a second-generation of active owners of Coates & Sowards, Inc.  They are both engaged in the business, and they maintain responsibility for managing a portfolio of properties.  Co-founder, Steve Coates, continues to manage several properties as well.

All the property managers at Coates & Sowards, Inc. carry the CPM® (Certified Property Manager) designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM.)  In addition, Jason Sowards and Steve Coates are both California real estate brokers, and they both have the CSM (Certified Shopping Center Manager) designation from BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association.)  Steve is also a CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member.)  Steve, Jason, and Kevin have over one hundred years of combined full-time property management experience between them, and, based on that experience, they have worked on foreclosures with financial institutions, they have been selected to be expert witnesses, and they have also been Court Appointed Receivers in multiple counties. 

California Commercial Property Management

Our owners are in various states and countries, but their properties that we manage are generally in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California.