Newcastle Partners Sells Silicon Valley Office Campus

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Great America Place in Santa Clara, Calif.

Newcastle Partners, of San Francisco, has sold Great America Place, a 224,522-square-foot office campus at 2903, 2993 and 5200 Great America Parkway in Santa Clara, Calif., according to NKF Capital Markets, which represented the seller.

The buyer was not identified, nor was the price disclosed. NKF was unable to provide additional requested information to Commercial Property Executive by press time.

The three-building campus reportedly features various size floor plates, abundant window line, and an open layout, which can accommodate both full-building users and multi-tenant configurations.

The location is within walking distance to Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail, the Santa Clara Convention Center, numerous hotels and Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers. The campus also offers convenient access to I-101, I-880 and Highway 237.

Completed between 1982 and 1984, the Class B property was fully renovated in 2010, and currently has just a 4.3 percent vacancy, according to information provided to Commercial Property Executive by Yardi Matrix. Newcastle had purchased the 9.5-acre campus from DJM Capital Partners in June 2011 for $45.8 million, again per Yardi Matrix.

NKF Capital Markets Vice Chairman Steven Golubchik and Executive Managing Director Edmund Najera represented Newcastle Partners.

A strong market, but not without turmoil

Mergers, layoffs and consolidations announced last year by several large tech firms have led to softening in some Silicon Valley submarkets and especially in older properties, along with substantial negative net absorption overall, according to a first-quarter report from JLL.

The upshot, at least for now, is that demand—and rents—for Class A space remain high, while “older, less desirable space is weighing down overall market rents,” the report states.

In Santa Clara specifically, year-to-date total net absorption was about 88,000 square feet on an inventory of nearly 14.3 million square feet, with total vacancy of a whopping 30.0 percent, versus 19.4 percent for Silicon Valley as a whole.

Still, the report notes, the tech sector remains strong and mid-sized (full-floor) tenants are looking to trade up for nicer space. Rents might even rise past 2017 levels by year’s end.

In recent activity, Dutchints Development last month obtained a $41 million, 24-month bridge loan for the purchase of a 71,000-square-foot office project in Silicon Valley.

And earlier this month, HFF arranged $150 million in permanent financing for Broadreach Capital Partners for their 245,738-square-foot BTS for Google, in Mountain View.

Image courtesy of NKF Capital Markets