Google Buys Mountain View Offices for $235M

In another big commercial real estate play, Google has made its largest purchase so far this year with the acquisition of a six-building portfolio in Mountain View, California for $235 million. Symantec, the popular software security firm, is currently leasing two of the buildings, where they will remain until their lease expires with Google serving as landlord. Google purchased the buildings from Equity Office, which acquired the properties when its parent, the Blackstone Group, acquired CarrAmerica Realty Corp. in 2006. As reported by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the properties include:

- Mountain View Technology Center a 131,500-square-foot, two-building project at 313 and 323 Fairchild Drive, for which Google paid $82.2 million, or $625 per square foot.

- Gateway Center, a 236,400-square-foot project at 401 Ellis St. and 500 E. Middlefield Drive. Google paid $138.8 million, or $587 per square foot.

- 485 and 495 Clyde Ave., a pair of R&D buildings totaling 64,800 square feet. Google paid $15 million, or $230 per square foot.

"We haven't seen this kind of growth in a Bay Area tech company before," said Tom Foremski, editor of Silicon Valley Watch, an online site that tracks technology trends in the Bay Area.

"Google is in very-high-growth mode, obviously," said Phil Mahoney, a Cornish & Carey executive vice president who has handled several major leasing deals on behalf of property owners that were leasing offices to Google in Santa Clara County. "They have to put their employees somewhere."

"Google's growth is unique," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Campbell-based Creative Strategies, a market research firm. "The Google search-engine business that's tied to their ads is growing exponentially. Their mobile is growing fast. They need much more staff to code, market and manage what they are doing in advertising, and more offices for those employees."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

America Center Up for Sale

Legacy Partners, a vertically integrated real estate investment firm, announced this week that it had retained HFF and Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank to spearhead the sale of the entire America Center project in Santa Clara, California. The offer for sale includes the two 213,000-square-foot, six-story buildings and roughly 13 acres of adjacent land that is envisioned for two additional 213,000-square-foot buildings. According to a Silicon Valley Business Journal article, several real estate sources indicated the property could trade for significantly north of $400 per square foot, based on the built space; a range of $400 to $500 a foot would pencil to $170 million to $213 million.

"America Center was conceived and constructed as an environmentally advanced office campus that reflects a growing demand for a sustainable land use policy and modern workplace environments in Northern California, Silicon Valley and indeed the nation," said Derrick How, Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for Legacy Partners Commercial, in a 2010 article shortly after Legacy Partners updated the property. "This project required us to work with the most current techniques in design, construction and remediation, an investment we hope serves as a ready inspiration for our corporate tenants seeking to further elevate the Bay Area’s commitment to long-term sustainability and continued progress in the adoption of clean technologies and green infrastructure."

Construction of the America Center began in June 2000 after Legacy Partners acquired more than 60 acres at Highway 237 and Great America Parkway from Cargill Salt. In 2007, HKS Architects were commissioned by Legacy Partners to expand and update the property with an advanced and modern mindset. America Center was shell complete in July 2009 and soon became San Jose's first LEED Gold-certified speculative office development built on a fully restored brownfield.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Apple Picks Up More Than 1 Million SF in Sunnyvale

Technology giant Apple has made moves in Sunnyvale, CA, picking up more than 1 million square feet of new office space that could accommodate as many as 5,000 employees. As the company continues to outgrow its space in Cupertino, Apple continues to lease new space and has, so far, agreed to lease a total of 1.2 million square feet in Sunnyvale according to city records and real estate brokers involved in the deals.

"It's a remarkable growth spurt for Apple," said Jim Beeger, senior vice president with Colliers International, a commercial realty brokerage, in a San Jose Mercury News article. "This is a 30-year-old company undergoing the type of explosive expansion that you see with a three-year-old startup."

"Cupertino is pretty much filled up because of Apple's growth, much like Mountain View is pretty much filled up because of Google," said Phil Mahoney, an executive vice president with realty firm Cornish & Carey Newmark Knight Frank. "Both Google and Apple need more room. Both of them decided to find space in Sunnyvale."

"As I look at my iPad and check my iPhone, it really strikes me how much Apple has been able to achieve and how they have remade themselves," said Reed Payne, an executive vice president with Kidder Mathews, a commercial realty firm. "The future is not only bright for Apple, but the future bodes well for all of Silicon Valley."

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.