$661.5 million in new Silicon Valley property deals
SAN JOSE >> Displaying a remarkable burst of hunger for Silicon Valley proper t ie s, i nve st or s have grabbed multiple properties in three different South Bay cities on the same day, spending more than $660 million for the sites.
Investors paid a combined total of $661.5 million this week for buildings in Cupertino, north San Jose, south San Jose, and Sunnyvale, according to documents filed with Santa Clara County officials on Oct. 29.
The deals by the diverse group of investors suggest that real estate buyers have yet to quench their thirst for Silicon Valley commercial properties, despite the economic woes unleashed by the coronavirus.
Of special interest to investors these days: properties with big- time tech companies as tenants in the sites.
Among the biggest commercial proper t y deals completed on Oct. 29:
• $346 million was paid for 10 office buildings in an Apple office campus on Results Way in Cupertino. The buildings together total 384,000 square feet. Apple leased the buildings in 2011, which at that time marked a rare foray for Apple west of State Route 85 in Cupertino. Swift Results Way,
an affiliate of San Francisco-based Swift Real Estate Partners, bought the buildings.
• $160 million was paid for three north San Jose office buildings, located at 10 W. Tasman Drive, 80 W. Tasman, and 125 Rio Ro
bles Drive. The buyer was an investment group with a local office in Mountain View. T he three buildings total 318,000 square feet. ASML , a semiconductor equipment maker, has leased the buildings at 125 Rio Robles and 80
W. Tasman. The sale represents a success story for veteran developer Divco West, which bought the buildings in 2018 when they were empty but found ASML as a tenant for two of the buildings in the campus.
• $104 million was paid for several Sunnyvale office buildings. The occupants of the sites include Fujitsu Electronics America, Fujitsu Laboratories America, Fujitsu Triole, and FDK A merica. T he addresses include 1200, 1230, 1240, 1250, 1260, 1270, and 1280 Arques Ave.
• $51.5 million was paid for two buildings at 5941 and 5945 Optical Court in south San Jose. The buildings are occupied by Roche Sequencing Solutions. The buyer is an affiliate headed by New York Cit y- ba sed TIAA, also known as Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, a financial services and insurance leviathan.
These deals, as well as others during 2020, show that investors are willing to buy properties, even amid the coronavirus, for office buildings with solid or elite tech companies as tenants.
The transactions also suggest that investors believe in the long-term potential for Silicon Valley’s job market, tech sector, economy, and proper ty values.