Guess Who's Looking For City Space
We're still tracking tenant names, but we do know that at least 300k SF worth of requirements for Valley-based tenants are landing in the city.
One broker well connected in Silicon Valley tells us there is "pretty serious interest" amongst Valley-based tenants looking for space in S.F. (We were going to run a live weather map, but the arrows would've gotten lost in the apocalypse.) He counts between four and six "good-sized" tenants on the market, with at least 75k SF requirements each. There's not as much big interest from S.F. tenants looking south; we reported on some of those examples this year (Yelp's Palo Alto lease) and Uber and Square being on the prowl for square footage in the Valley. The new requirements in the city are good news for S.F. landlords, which are starting to see big blocks of space come up for grabs (more recently, at 555 Market and 315 Montgomery and China Basin).
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Top stories on Bisnow.com
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Big Numbers For Stanford Buildings
A rare four-building cluster in Palo Alto is up for grabs, and valuations are through the roof, sources say. The complex on Hillview, which sits within the pristine Stanford Research Park, totals 292k SF. The buildings are owned by biz software maker Tibco (and serves as its campus). Facing declining revenues, Tibco agreed to be bought by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $4.3B in September, taking it from public to private (the deal closed last week). Selling off its real estate is part of that buyout. The capital chasing the deal is "very diverse," sources say, and "very global." Expect to see eye popping numbers. A call for offers will be some time next week and a closing will occur in early-to-mid January. Cushman is marketing it.
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"19th Century Bones, 21st Century Tenant"
Here's a superhero-sized renovation project: In 2007, three best friends joined forces to buy the historic Wilcox Block in downtown San Jose. Built in 1867, it's basically as old as a commercial building can get in California, says Richie Commercial's Mark Ritchie, who calls himself the "face," Garden City Construction's James Salata the "muscle" and structural engineer Mark Cardosa of Biggs Cardosa the "brains" of the co-ownership. Despite a tanked economy, they attracted two restaurants (Billy Berk's and Mezcal), battled a nearby fire and legal headache, did a major overhaul, and just welcomed a hot tech tenant, Spanner Product Development, into its 5,500 SF space at 15 W San Fernando on Halloween. Above, Mark Ritchie snapped Spanner's Arne Lang-Ree, Giles Lowe (CEO), Tracy Conway, James Salata, Spanner's Rich Tangney and Mark Cardosa.
 Spanner, which specializes in high-end consumer electronics, consolidated a few downtown offices into the space. Giles likes its large workshop space for same-day prototyping on 3D printers. The building was last occupied in the early 1950s, and after the 1989 earthquake, it was shut down completely and ended up in the redevelopment agency's hands. The trio bought it for a "nominal" price because it almost had negative value considering the cost of renovations. A year later, a homeless man lit a bonfire next door that destroyed a major historic building and partially collapsed the party wall. That let to a complex insurance and legal issue with neighboring owner BSB lasting two to three years.  Built with an elaborate gingerbread Victorian facade, it got a stucco facade with aluminum in the 1940s to mimic shopping centers of the day. The second floor remained untouched in its 1800s state, and as many features were retained as possible (like the original names on the doors). They essentially built a new building inside an old building, from a systems and seismic perspective, says Mark. He said they could have tenanted the space with a law firm to encourage traditional offices along the window line, but Spanner and the space clicked. |
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Cheers To San Jose's New Whole Foods
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In a deal that's been rumored since 2003, the much-anticipated 35k SF Whole Foods Market finally opened on The Alameda this week. It's decidedly the new stomping ground for Colliers International's Terry Healy, Dave Mein, Dion Campisi, Howard Barry, David Buchholz, Mike Miller and Bob Shepard, here on opening day with Belgian Ales in tow at the beer garden. With California's first in-store microbrewery and tap room, an early morning coffee house and a made to order donut bar, local residents and downtown employees have a great spot to kick-start or end the day, says Office of Economic Development for City of San Jose's Cara Douglas.
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The two-story 5,600 SF brewery building is a separate building, with 15 taps pouring seasonal and local brews. It's one of the company's most environmentally efficient stores, with an on-site Combined Heat and Power plant, reducing the store's dependence on the public grid by 90%. Cara tells us her eco devo office also has a focus on pumping up North San Jose; still no word on the 2M SF mystery tenant that's been stumping everyone for months. The hope is that San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed--one of the few who knows the identity--will share the news before his term is up at the end of the month. |
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