Google, Johnson & Johnson robotics venture leases big Santa Clara space
SANTA CLARA >> Verb Surgical, a joint venture of Google and Johnson & Johnson, has leased a big office building in Santa Clara, marking a relocation and expansion of the surgical robotics company.
The company leased an office building totaling 234,000 square feet, according to several people with direct knowledge of the transaction. The lease was signed during the week of June 14, all the people said.
The building that Verb Surgical leased is in the Stadium Tech Center complex, the people stated.
The lease for the office building, which is at 5490 Great America Parkway in Santa Clara, was arranged by brokers from commercial realty firms Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE.
“With this deal, really all the large blocks of space are gone in Santa Clara,” said Dave Sandlin, a senior vice president and principal executive with Colliers International.
That means any upcoming waves of tenant deals in Silicon Valley could emerge in adjacent cities.
“The next area that’s going to get a lot of interest is north San Jose,” Sandlin said.
San Jose officials have attempted to position the north side of the South Bay’s largest city as an area that would accommodate plenty of expansions, especially from technology companies.
“There is a significant amount of space available in north San Jose,” Sandlin said. “There is vacant land and empty buildings available there.”
Dell EMC and Hortonworks had previously leased space in Stadium Tech Center, whose Great America Parkway location is just south of State Route 237. It’s a short distance from Levi’s Stadium and a light rail stop.
“This is a brand-new marquee building in a great location right near the football stadium,” said Craig Leiker, a first vice president with commercial realty brokerage Kidder Mathews.
In 2015, Johnson & Johnson and Verily Life Sciences — which formerly was Google Life Sciences — announced they had formed a joint venture called Verb Surgical.
Verb Surgical, which was launched in Mountain View near the Googleplex headquarters of Alphabet and Google, aims to combine robotics, software, machine learning — artificial intelligence — and other technologies in a quest to improve surgery procedures and outcomes.
“We believe Verb Surgical has the potential to change the future of surgery, not just robotic surgery,” said Gary Pruden, worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices, when Verb Surgical’s formation was announced in 2015.
Verb Surgical executives and media representatives did not respond to several requests from this news organization regarding the leasing deal. CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield didn’t respond to inquiries regarding the rental transaction.
Even more leasing deals are anticipated by experts in the wake of this Verb Surgical rental agreement.
“We are tracking a tremendous amount of demand right now in Silicon Valley,” Sandlin said.
On June 4, Idaho-based Micron Technology, which is keeping its head offices in Boise, disclosed a major relocation of its Silicon Valley operations by leasing 541,000 square feet of offices, allowing it to move into a three-building campus in north San Jose. Micron leased 110, 120 and 130 Holger Way, a short distance from the interchange of State Route 237 and North First Street.
“It appears large tenants are considering the area of Santa Clara and north San Jose along Highway 237,” Leiker said. “It’s a wonderful location to set up offices for employees.”