Exclusive: Google Unloads 3 Buildings in Silicon Valley

Farallon Capital Management has acquired four buildings totaling roughly 686,000 square feet within Pacific Shores Center, an 11-building, nearly 2 million-square-foot office campus in Redwood City, Calif., according to Yardi Matrix. Google sold three of the buildings for $45.6 million, while DivcoWest sold the fourth in a separate deal, for $94.4 million. This brings the total to $140 million.

The collection includes 1100, 1200, 1300 and 1400 Seaport Blvd. DivcoWest sold 1400 Seaport Blvd., while Google was the seller of 1100, 1200 and 1300 Seaport Blvd. ACORE Capital originated a loan covering these assets and totaling $173.6 million, according to public records. All buildings within Pacific Shores Center serve as offices, with the exception of 1100 Seaport Blvd., which is a community/amenity center.

Located along Seaport Boulevard and near the Port of Redwood City and U.S. Route 101 in Silicon Valley, Pacific Shores Center came online in 2001 and its name has been, for a long time, synonymous with Google, which has held a big footprint in the campus going back more than a decade.

Google had acquired 1100, 1200 and 1300 Seaport Blvd. from Perform Properties in 2014, when it shelled out $585 million for seven of the campus’ 11 structures. That same year, DivcoWest picked up two other buildings, 1400 and 1500 Seaport Blvd., from Shorenstein for $260 million. Two other buildings, 2000 and 2100 Seaport Blvd., are owned and occupied by Informatica.

Amid the ongoing hybrid revolution, Google has been heavily scaling back its real estate footprint, announcing two years ago that it planned to save $640 million by cutting back on office, according to The Real Deal. Last year, the tech giant listed for rent almost 413,000 square feet of office space in Pacific Shores Center, via CBRE, the publication also shows. As of publishing, the brokerage was still advertising some 500,000 square feet of office space in the campus, across four buildings.

Bay Area among top office markets for sales

Year-to-date through March, the Bay Area was one of the top metros for office transactions, with $763 million in sales, according to a recent report.

The Bay Area’s average price reached $295 per square foot, above the national average of $202 but well below nearby San Francisco’s market-leading $868 per square foot. Manhattan led sales volume with $1.8 billion, followed by Miami ($892 million), Dallas ($859 million) and San Francisco ($754 million).