Few are predicting a boom in office demand anytime soon, but one investor said he believes there’s still value in such properties in the long run.

Ethan Conrad said he paid $22 million for Harvard Square, a five-story, 158,704-square-foot office building in North Sacramento.

“Notably, this purchase price is less than 40% of the replacement cost which is definitely over $350.00 p.s.f.,” Conrad said in an email. “The reason why I bought this property is that it’s a very high-quality building in a good location that is getting better (based primarily on the multifamily residential development directly to the east).”

At 2180 Harvard St., the building is across Business 80 from the Arden Gateway apartment complex that’s midway through construction, with Arden Fair mall just beyond that.

Current occupancy at Harvard Square is about 60%. But Conrad said he believes with new Class A office buildings not being built in great numbers, the values of existing Class A properties like Harvard Square will rise.

“The bottom line is, most people are the most productive if they’re working in an office vs. remotely and therefore, I believe that the urban office building in the Greater Sacramento area will do well over time,” he said.

There’s also been an uptick recently in leasing for small- to medium-sized office space, a range Harvard Square has quite a bit of, he said. According to a commercial real estate brokerage Colliers’ brochure on the property, Harvard Square has 10 available suites, ranging from 2,013 to 14,199 square feet.

Tenant amenities include a new tenant lounge, cafe, and outdoor patio/meeting area.

In an email announcing the purchase by his company Thursday, Conrad said the building will not require any extensive remodeling. Ethan Conrad Properties Inc. will focus on some small upgrades and leasing the available space, he said in that email, which he shared with the Business Journal.

Built in 1990 and renovated in 2017, Harvard Square also has 150 covered parking spaces and additional uncovered parking lots.

San Jose-based Insight Realty Co. was the seller in the deal, according to property records. During the firm’s ownership, occupancy dropped from about 90% at the time of its purchase in 2016, possibly stemming from an overall downturn in the market because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Still, the firm only paid $18.4 million to buy the property.

Matthew Love, Insight Realty’s managing director, said in an email the company would not comment on the sale to Conrad, citing company policy.