Experience

One of the founding partners of Hayes Commercial Group, Francois specializes in the sale and leasing of office and R&D properties in Gole­ta, Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria. He is extremely well versed in the represen­tation of both tenants and landlords and brings a unique corporate focus to the Hayes Commercial team. In fact, he currently represents several of Santa Barbara’s publicly traded firms and was involved in the second largest office sale and the largest office lease ever recorded on the South Coast. In total, Fran­cois has represented clients in more than 1,400 commercial transactions, to­taling over 14 million square feet, and valued at more than $2 billion.

Francois has been a significant player in the Santa Barbara commercial real estate community since 1991. He brings an unmatched combination of marketing, negotiation, financial and market knowledge to all of his clients.

Fran is a board member and contributing author for the UCSB Economic Fore­cast Project. He is recognized in the Pacific Coast Busi­ness Times’ annual “Dealmakers” feature virtually every year, and has been named a CoStar Power Broker every year since they began awarding the designation.

Professional Background

2008 – Present:
Hayes Commercial, Partner, Founder

2004 – 2008:
Leider Hayes Commercial, Partner, Founder

1997 – 2004:
Blair Hayes Commercial, Partner

1991 – 1997:
Pacifica Commercial Realty, Broker

Education

Francois’ educational background is also firmly entrenched in the Santa Barbara community. He graduated summa cum laude in Business Economics from University of California at Santa Barbara, where he played intercollegiate soccer.

Affiliations / Awards

  • UCSB Economic Forecast: Board chair and contributing author
  • Coast Village Road Association: Board member
  • Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce: Board member
  • Featured “Dealmaker” of the year 2008 – 2011 and 2013 – 2019,  by the Pacific Coast Business Times
  • California Bureau of Real Estate: Licensed Broker (lic. 01144570)
  • Santa Barbara Multiple Listing Service, Loopnet

Notable Clients & Transactions

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Raytheon & Bermant Development  $41M sale of 208,000 sf office/R&D on 63 acres

Foothills Ventura & CenCal Health $30M sale of 60,000 sf office building on 3 acres

Montana Avenue Partners $36M sale of 166,000 sf office campus

H&R Investments $30M sale of 102,000 sf office building on 10 acres and $24M sale of 105,000 sf office/R&D facility on 10 acres

Orfalea Family & Montana Avenue Partners $25M sale of 120,000 sf office campus on 9 acres

Towbes Capital Partners  $23M sale of 72,000 sf office building on 5 acres and $21.5M sale of 83,000 sf office/R&D on 7 acres

Citrix Online & Raytheon  $20M sale of 160,000 sf office/R&D on 15 acres

Matteson Partners  $20M sale of 75,000 sf office on 4 acres

Ericsson 170,000 sf lease of 3 office buildings, 10 year leases

AppFolio 166,000 sf lease of 3 office buildings, 10 year lease

Raytheon 165,000 sf lease of 2 R&D buildings, 5 year leases

Citrix 160,000 sf lease of 6 office buildings, 5-10 year leases

Allergan 105,000 sf lease of R&D space, 15 year lease

SBB&T 102,000 sf lease of office, 10 year lease

Procore 101,000 sf lease of 3 office buildings, 7 year leases

Curvature  98,000 sf lease of office and industrial space, 7 year leases