High-profile tech leader goes on Palo Alto property shopping spree
Key developer of Google search leads group of buyers
PALO ALTO >> Groups led by a key architect of Google’s search engine and Alexa Internet have quietly collected properties in Palo Alto in multiple transactions, public documents show.
In the most recent deal, an affiliate headed up by tech entrepreneur Scott Hassan has bought a research and office building at 960 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto.
Hassan is currently chief executive officer of Palo Alto-based Suitable Technologies, which has developed a virtual meeting and telepresence robot called Beam.
However, Hassan’s legacy and expertise trace back to some of Silicon Valley’s most storied companies and technologies.
Sometimes known as the unofficial third founder of Google, Hassan programmed much of the Google search engine. Hassan also was a key architect and software developer for Alexa Internet and Stanford Digital Library. Hassan also founded eGroups, which was bought by Yahoo.
Most recently, Hassan has become passionate about robotics and founded Suitable Technologies in 2011. Suitable has two Palo Alto locations, the headquarters site on East Charleston Road and a sales and marketing office on Industrial Avenue. Hassan also was the top boss at Menlo Park-based Willow Garage, which developed robotics technologies until it ceased operations in 2014 and most of its employees were hired by Suitable Technologies.
In the most recent property purchase, Hassan affiliate PA San Antonio 960 paid $13.9 million for a nondescript building with addresses ranging from 960 to 992 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto, according to Santa Clara County public records that were filed on July 7. But that isn’t the only realty acquisition on this Palo Alto block undertaken by Hassan. In called 2019, PA a Hassan San Antonio affiliate 916 bought multiple adjacent parcels for $4.6 million, county documents show. Those properties are at 910 and 916 San Antonio Road in Palo Alto. Scott Hassan is listed as a manager of both affiliates, according to public documents on file with state officials.
The just-purchased sites are a five-minute walk or a two-minute drive from the Suitable Technologies’ headquarters at 921 E. Charleston Drive. They also are a nine-minute walk and a three-minute drive from the sales and marketing offices.
The adjacent sites assembled on San Antonio Road by the Hassan affiliates sit atop roughly two acres of contiguous parcels. The buildings are decades old and relatively small compared to the size of the land, which means they could conceivably be bulldozed or renovated to create modern or greatly updated office buildings.
The purchases by the Hassan groups are a reminder that even in a packed office market such as Palo Alto, tech leaders will undertake creative endeavors to create elbow room for their companies.
The recent deal also is a reminder that Palo Alto remains a hot market.
In 2018, a group led by Greg Pickett paid $6.4 million for the building at 960 San Antonio, which means this week’s $13.9 million purchase represented a more than doubling of the prior sales price.