A north San Jose tech campus has just been bought by an insurance company that paid triple what the office complex traded for less than three years ago, a deal that is a reminder of how hot the technology and job market is in Santa Clara County.
Bixby Land sold The Campus, a four-building complex at the corner of Trimble Road and Orchard Parkway, for $96 million to MCP Trimble Campus, an affiliate of MetLife Real Estate Advisors, which is a unit of the insurance titan.
In October 2012, Bixby paid $29.5 million for what then was a dilapidated and obsolete campus that was nearly empty at the time.
The project had sat virtually empty for an extended period of time and needed a complete overhaul, said Bill Halford, president of Bixby Land. We added building exteriors, roofs, mechanical equipment, common areas, landscaping — the works.
All told, Bixby land invested $20 million into a renovation and upgrade of the property, an investment that transformed the site into a sleek and modern campus. Bixby renovated three of the four buildings on the site. The fourth building has been occupied by a tenant throughout the upgrade process.
The tripling of the sales price is a reflection of the super-heated Santa Clara County job market, which, by the way is booming and growing at a nationwide best of 6.1 percent.
The outmoded buildings had scant prospects of attracting the flock of technology companies that had begun to scout for big blocks of space to accommodate the explosive growth of their work forces. Plus, older buildings with few modern amenities generally would be unattractive to tech companies whose employees include numerous young and hip engineers and software experts who want state-of-the-art places to work.
It didn t take long for companies to chase after the campus, whose amenities include considerable open spaces as well as fire pits and bocce courts.
Just three months after Bixby finished its renovation, Verizon leased 136,000 square feet, taking two full buildings. Earlier this year, ASML US leased another 92,000 square feet.
Both of these tenants wanted collaborative, open areas where their employees could meet or relax, said Rob Shannon, a senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, a commercial realty firm that handled the leasing of the complex, which is officially named The Campus.
The Campus office complex has been bought for $96 million by a unit of MetLife, the insurance giant, a price that s triple what it sold for in 2012, an indication that the job market and technology sector remain white hot in Silicon Valley. Pboto credit: Bixby Land
