Behind the Box HQ Deal

We got the brokers behind the Box deal to tell us how Box landed at Kilroy's 334k SF project at Crossing/900. 

Cornish & Carey's Ben Stern (right), who reps Box with Matt Winters, says the cloud giant is the new face of Redwood City thanks to the HQ deal at the site underway at 900 Middlefield Road. Come next August Box will occupy the 226k building and a subtenant (or subtenants) will lease the neighboring 108k SF one for two to four years. Ben's been getting a number of inquiries on the sublease space—and they haven't even started marketing it yet. "Folks who want info are all over us," Ben says. It's eventually going to be the growth room for Box in the next five years-plus. The most likely subtenant candidate would be a tech co, he says, and the entire HQ will be built out simultaneously.

Down at their 100k SF Los Altos HQ, there's four years of lease term left that will also be up for grabs on the sublease market. Ben calls it "fantastic" tech space with concrete floors, exposed ceilings, and access to 280. There's been significant sublease interest there, too. Redwood City wasn't always the focus for Box's future home. Box has always been driven by amenities, culture, and public transportation. This location seemed to be the best fit, with the Caltrain stop, access to 101, restaurants, and bars nearby.

There was "quite a number" of interested parties in Kilroy's space—fortunately Box was able to prevail, he says. But it took some time; they first toured the site nearly a year ago and also considered San Mateo and Sunnyvale spaces, he says. Downtown was never a serious HQ option, but their existing footprint in the city surely helped: there Box also sits in a Kilroy building and there was an existing familiarity with each other, he says. This spring we broke news about their downtown expansion. Ben, who's been part of the Box team since it was 10 people, says it's rewarding to be part of the process in navigating their growth. Above, CEO Aaron Levie.