Verizon breaks ground on huge tech hub in San Jose

Company will employ 3,400 at its north campus

SAN JOSE >> Verizon on Wednesday launched a huge new tech campus in north San Jose, breaking ground on a sleek complex where the communications titan will employ thousands of people.

The company’s Silicon Valley campus of the future is located at the Coleman Highline development, which is across the street from San Jose International Airport and near the Earthquakes soccer stadium as well as a Caltrain stop.

“This campus helps us build our DNA, and we are in growth mode,” Guru Gowrappan, chief executive officer of Verizon Media, said in an interview with this news organization on Wednesday. “We can build our culture in San Jose and take it to the next level.”

An estimated 3,400 Verizon Media employees will work at the Coleman Highline complex, including 2,400 who will shift their offices from Sunnyvale, the company said.

Verizon leased 640,000 square feet in multiple buildings at the Coleman Highline development.

Coleman Highline is a huge mixed-use complex of office buildings, hotels, retail, and restaurants that Hunter Properties is developing on a large site along

Coleman Avenue between Earthquakes Way and Champions Way. Roku also has leased a big chunk of office space in the Coleman Highline project.

“The success we are having with Coleman Highline speaks volumes about being in San Jose and companies wanting to be part of the new San Jose culture,” said Derek Hunter, president of Cupertino-based Hunter Properties.

The site was once home to FMC, the storied industrial company that initially was named Food Machineries Corp. and eventually built an array of vehicles for the U.S. military, including tracked landing vehicles for the nation during World War II, as well as the famed Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

“The Verizon groundbreaking highlights the continued importance of Coleman Highline to the fiscal health of San Jose,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy. “The transformation from an old FMC plant to tech hub is another example of how Silicon Valley can reinvent its land use.”

San Jose has been on a winning streak in terms of attracting huge tech companies to the city.

“San Jose has the real estate for big companies, and the city really accommodates tech companies,” Hunter said. “San Jose makes decisions at the speed of business. City officials are sensitive to the needs of the technology industry.”

The Sunnyvale Verizon

employees are moving out of the old Yahoo headquarters campus, which Google bought, along with other Verizon-Yahoo properties, for a jaw-dropping $1 billion in July.

Verizon expects to move into its new offices in 2021, the company estimated.

Gensler, an architecture and design firm, crafted the Coleman Highline campus and the future Verizon site. Devcon is the construction company for the project, which is being marketed by CBRE, a commercial real estate firm.

“The focus of our design is really about creating a community,” said Sonya Dufner, a principal executive with Gensler. “Verizon’s people will be

together in one campus.”

Verizon Media also believes that its new San Jose home will help the company attract engineers and ease the commutes of its Silicon Valley workers.

“It’s huge to be near the San Jose talent pool,” Gowrappan said. “San Jose is a big city, it has the energy, we are near the airport, near rail lines.”

A number of employees of Verizon Media initially

suggested renovating the company’s existing offices in Sunnyvale, Gowrappan said. But as the Verizon workers learned more, and saw more, about their future San Jose offices, that sentiment began to shift.

“Most of the feedback I’m getting now is, when can we move in,” Gowrappan said.