Apple Buys Another Building in North San Jose

It seems like Apple can't get enough of North San Jose this year. They have made yet another purchase, this time for a 70,000 SQFT former chip fab at 3725 N. First Street. It was previously used as a manufacturing facility for a semiconductor company called Maxim Integrated Products. What Apple will do with the space is anyone's guess. It seems too small to manufacture anything that Apple would put in their products, but could be used as a test lab. Perhaps Apple will tear it down to build a new facility. Either way, it is nice to see Apple continue to invest in our area.

The location is also notable. As you can see in the image below, the building could not be any closer to Samsung's shiny new North American Headquarters in San Jose. Talk about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer.

Source: SVBJ

North San Jose R&D Vacancy Finally Dips Below 10%

After a painful recession and years of recovery, North San Jose commercial space is finally back on solid footing. The last couple tech companies to move into the "golden triangle" were enough to bring the Research and Development (R&D) vacancy rate below 10% for the first time in many years. Usually development picks up substantially when vacancy is in the single digits.

The two most recent companies that moved to North San Jose are Silver Spring Networks and ForeScout. Silver Spring is a smart grid  provider that relocated from Redwood City to 190,000 SQFT on 210 and 230 W. Tasman Drive. ForeScout is a cyber security company that moved from Campbell to 95,000 SQFT at 190 W. Tasman Drive.

Source: San Jose Economy Newsletter

Kaiser is Building North San Jose Medical Offices

Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente is gearing up to develop 9.7 acres in North San Jose at the intersection of Skyport Drive and Technology Drive. The healthcare provider wants to build a 153,000 SQFT medical facility with 103 medical offices. Kaiser purchased the empty plot of land almost three years ago and has just now submitted a formal development application.

While many living in San Jose choose Kaiser as their provider, there are currently zero Kaiser facilities in the North San Jose area. Fortunately, that will soon change.

Source: SVBJ

Silver Spring Networks Moving Headquarters to San Jose

Silver Springs Networks is a company that specializes in smart grid products for energy companies as well as software to help consumers reduce their energy consumption. They have decided to move their headquarters from Redwood City to San Jose. Silver Springs will take on 191,800 SQFT of prime office space at Champion Station (210 and 230 W. Tasman Drive). The company is yet another welcome addition to North San Jose's burgeoning portfolio of tech companies.

Source: SVBJ

Broadcom Buys North San Jose Business Park

Broadcom is dropping $207 million for 26 acres in North San Jose that is already approved for up to 1.1 million SQFT in office space. They are purchasing the land from Boston Properties, which hopefully will reinvest those funds in San Jose (They have three proposed office towers in Downtown San Jose).

The location is a vacant business park at 3200 Zanker Road, next to Crescent Village. Apple now owns 80 acres of land not far away and supposedly other large deals are in the works. The North First district went from having the highest vacancy rate in San Jose to being in huge demand over the course of just five years!

Source: SVBJ

Apple Pondering San Jose Campus of up to 4.15 Million SQFT (!!!)

Apple has quietly been acquiring 86 acres of land in North San Jose stretching from Highway 101 all the way to North First Street. Finally, it sounds like their master plan is coming together. While Apple has not submitted a formal proposal for a project, they have come to a development agreement with the City of San Jose that would allow a staggering 4.15 million SQFT of development. This scale would surpass even the Apple Campus 2 project in Cupertino (the giant spaceship).

If even half of that gets built, it would have a dramatic impact on San Jose's tax base, the balance of housing/jobs in the city, and our overall brand. The only negative that stood out to me is the elimination of the height requirement on North First Street (105-feet). That means Apple will likely opt for 4-6 story buildings instead of pushing the limits of office campuses like Samsung did with their San Jose headquarters. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about this one in the future.

Source: SVBJ

The Station on North First - 1.6 Million SQFT Office Project

According to Robertee from The San Jose Development Forum, Boston Properties has ramped up marketing for their largest proposed project in San Jose--"The Station on North First." The office project would include up to 1.6 million SQFT of high-end office space, 10,000 SQFT of retail, and large open spaces filled with amenities. Check out the latest renderings and highlights below.

The Station on North First Highlights

• 24.3 acre campus
• 10,000 SF of retail space
• Convenient below ground parking
• Active, transit-oriented boulevard
• 5 - 10 story buildings arranged around two programmed quads
• The Quads & Grand Boulevard link the buildings and create a cohesive urban experience
• Each campus building features a double-height Great Room
• The Great Rooms serve as main entry points and lobbies, while offering communal space that can house a variety of events
• Indoor and outdoor fitness opportunities and amenity space
• Both social and sports outdoor areas
• Visual connectivity between buildings
• Connected floor plates up to 154K SF
• Typical floor plate: 35 - 45K SF
• Retail and urban plazas on North First Street
• Social gathering and recreation quads
• Collaborative Great Rooms and amenities
• Abundant natural light

Apple Buys More Land in North San Jose!

It looks like Apple is planning something huge in North San Jose. Last week they purchased another 27 acres in North San Jose off of Carcot Avenue. This is a high visibility site fronting Highway 101 (imagine the signage possibilities).

Apple paid Ellis Partners $166 million for the land, which includes a 290,000 SQFT building that Apple was previously going to lease. The deal also gives Apple 12 acres of land approved for 650,000 SQFT of additional R&D and/or office space. This will give Apple a grand total of 70 acres in North San Jose.

Without moving a single employee to San Jose, the city already is already getting a nice payout. The city will collect over $1 million in transfer tax from the sale of the property.

In typical Apple fashion, they are being very secretive on what their true intentions are for the land. My guess is that they are going to use the space to develop "Project Titan," their electric car rumored for release in 2019. They allegedly already have 800 employees working on the car, and plan to triple that to over 2,000 employees immediately. North San Jose property would be the absolute best location for Apple to develop an electric car. Here is why:

• Millions of square feet of develop-able space that could be built to meet Apple's unique requirements. Cupertino is out of land and is more difficult to work with than San Jose when it comes to new development.
• Access to the best engineering talent in the world. The Golden Triangle is still the largest tech cluster anywhere, and you are not going to find better hardware engineers elsewhere.
• Santa Clara County is becoming a Mecca for automotive innovation. You have Tesla and innovation centers for just about every car manufacturer in the immediate area. Let's also not forget NextEV is opening an R&D outpost in the neighborhood. Most of the talent required to build next-generation vehicles is already here.
• Easy access to the San Jose International Airport.
• Easy access to Light Rail and eventually BART.
• Easy access to Highway 101 and Highway 87.
• More central location than Cupertino with more housing options and urban amenities.

Tesla now has 12,000 employees. If Apple chooses to centralize "Project Titan" in San Jose, they will need every square foot of the land they just purchased. I can't wait to see how this develops!

Source: SVBJ

Samsung's New San Jose Headquarters is Complete!

Last week Samsung officially unveiled their new 1.1 million SQFT North American Headquarters in San Jose. The ten story main building (technically two connected towers) is state-of-the-art. Each floor is no more than one staircase away from expansive outdoor gardens, the floor plates are huge, ceilings are high on every floor, and the campus has every amenity you can think of (yes, that is a putting green in the sky photographed below). 700 employees have already moved in, but the building will accommodate up to 2,000 workers.

Check out some of the best photos I have found of the new campus below.

Source: CNET

Curry Up Now and Mortar & Pestle Now Open in North San Jose!

Finally, San Jose has gotten a Curry Up Now brick & mortar restaurant! Curry Up Now has been one of my favorite food trucks for years and I was elated when they built their first restaurant near my work in San Mateo. They went on to open two additional restaurants in San Francisco and Palo Alto, but have saved the best for San Jose.

Ideally situated in the Golden Triangle, San Jose's Curry Up Now is the largest with 160 seats. Of course it offers all of their favorites such as their famous Tikka Masala Burritos, Sexy Fries, Deconstructed Samosas, and Naughty Naan--however, there will be some new items exclusive to San Jose. The San Jose location will be the only one to offer Brunch, and they created an assortment of specialties for the occasion like the Bird's Nest Samosa (photo below) and Indian-style crepes.

It gets better. The San Jose location also has a Mortar & Pestle, their Indian-themed craft cocktail bar. The only other one that exists is in San Mateo, and it's my favorite bar on the Peninsula. The drinks are designed to be paired with spicy Indian dishes and have unique flavors I have not had at any other bar before. The drinks are outstanding and are worth a trip in and of themselves.

Curry up Now is located at 3250 Zanker Road, near Patxi's and Wahoo's. The restaurant is open 11am-10pm Monday through Thursday, 11am-11pm on Friday, 9am to 11pm on Saturday, and 9am-9pm on Sunday.

Source: Eat - Drink - Play

San Jose's Velostrata Raises $14M

Velostrata is a tech company that enables network admins to easily move virtual machines on their network into the cloud. Their software runs on top of VMware, and makes moving servers into the cloud as easy as right-clicking.

The San Jose company--which is headquartered at 2880 Zanker Road--has operated in stealth mode for over a year and is just now announcing a $14 million funding round. This goes to show that San Jose has tech startups as well, not just established companies.

Velostrata has a total of 25 employees, with plans to grow to 40 within a year. They also have an office in Tel Aviv.

Source: VentureBeat

Google Eyeing North San Jose!

First Apple, and now Google. Momentum is quickly building in North San Jose for anchor tech companies! With little room to grow in Mountain View, Google has finally decided to consider office space in San Jose.

The company is planning to start with about 150,000 SQFT. If things go well, I would not be surprised if they expanded. North San Jose has millions and maybe even tens of millions of SQFT worth of potential office development. The SiliconBeat article also references the BART extension in Milpitas and Berryessa as one of the reasons why the North San Jose office market will get hotter over time. Completely agree. BART is going to be a huge amenity for East Bay commuters that Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Cupertino will not have easy access to.

Source: SiliconBeat

NextEV (Chinese Tesla Competitor) Building R&D in San Jose

There is a little known fact that before purchasing the NUMMI plant, Tesla was trying to build their factory in North San Jose. Since they would not qualify for federal incentives at that location, the deal fell through. However, Tesla still does have some history with San Jose as they chose to open the first Tesla Store in San Jose--which is still considered to be the United States flagship store. I should also note that they are rumored to be seeking office space in San Jose.

Well, it turns out Tesla won't be the only electric vehicle (EV) company in town for very long. A Chinese company called NextEV has selected North San Jose as their location for a significant R&D center. The company already has a supercar that competes in the Formula E racing series. Now their goal is to manufacture a mass-market electric car in 2017 for the Chinese market as well as a US-bound electric car in 2019. The company seems pretty serious unlike previous EV companies like Coda. They have hired a former CEO of Maserati and poached employees from both Tesla and BMW.

NextEV has leased a 85,000 SQFT building at 3200 North First Street. The R&D center will focus on "connected car" functionality. Manufacturing will be done in China while car design will be handled in Germany.

Now all we need is an Apple facility for their future self-driving cars as well as a relocation of the Tesla Headquarters to San Jose--then we'll have hands-down the EV capital of the world.

Source: SVBJ

Pentagon Selects San Jose as Innovation Hub for Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing

The United States Defense Department has selected San Jose's FlexTech Alliance to lead an initiative on advanced manufacturing. FlexTech will receive $75 million in federal funding in order to pull several disparate manufacturing processes together and build the next generation of electronic sensors. The new sensors will weigh less and be highly malleable, allowing them to easily be worn or embedded just about anywhere. 96 companies will be a part of the FlexTech Alliance, along with 11 laboratories and 41 colleges.

San Jose made a strong name for itself in semiconductor manufacturing in the 90s and 2000s. It's great to see an innovation center being created locally to support the next generation of manufacturing high-tech components. The FlexTech is headquartered at 3081 Zanker Road, in the heart of North San Jose's Golden Triangle.

Source: SVBJ

Boston Properties Adding 536,949 SQFT of Office Space

Boston Properties is planning to add two new large buildings to their Innovation Place business park in North San Jose. Each would be a quarter million square feet. The best part is that they already seem to have a tenant to occupy the space, rumored to be Broadcom. This would double the size of the current campus from 543,900 SQFT to over a million SQFT. The two buildings would replace an existing parking lot, while parking would be moved to two new structures.

Unfortunately, Boston Properties will have to go through the city planning process all over again for entitlements to build the project since their previous entitlements to expand the campus expired. While this project is not as sexy as some of the mixed use projects we have seen lately, it would provide critical Class A office space to North San Jose that is needed to maintain momentum in this economy.

Source: SVBJ

Intelicare Direct Bringing 350 Jobs to San Jose

A high-end call center is opening this week in North San Jose (2350 Zanker Road, Suite 10). Intelicare Direct--the company opening the center--is establishing 350 new jobs in our city, as opposed to outsourcing them outside the country. The new center also means more tax dollars for the city's coffers. 

To learn about the company and the new office, please have a look at the press release below. FYI, they are aggressively hiring. These positions are a great way to get your foot in the door if you are interested in moving into tech, Customer Service, or Customer Success. 

San Diego — Intelicare Direct (ICD), a leading customer service solutions company with offices in Las Vegas and San Diego, is opening its third state-of-the-art building in San Jose, Calif. The expansion to the Bay Area continues a commitment by ICD to provide high quality customer service for its clients that remains based in the United States.

On Wednesday, September 2 at 12:15 p.m., a ribbon cutting ceremony will take place with San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. Intelicare Direct will also host an open house job fair following the ceremony.

“We are excited to be creating over 350 jobs in the Bay Area as we pursue our goal of providing the world’s best customer service experience for our clients,” said Gabriel Bristol, President and CEO of Intelicare Direct. “It’s important to us that as we grow, this work continues to be performed in the U.S. and San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley and a bustling hub of technology, is just the place to do it.”

An ambitious project, the goal of this new San Jose office is to not only create a customer service contact center unlike any other, but also to make sure that the space reflects the value of those performing the work. The new office mirrors the company’s unique values and culture, which are in part responsible for the success the company has enjoyed. ICD pays a livable hourly wage, weekly bonuses and provides health and disability insurance for all its employees. The company is famously dog friendly and allows employees to bring their children into the office as well.

“Customer service workers have long been denied the kind of respect they deserve. Without these hard working agents, most companies simply couldn’t function, and yet too often they’re relegated to the basements with sub-par equipment and even poorer working conditions,” said Bristol. “All too often these jobs are shipped off to parts of the world where the work can be done for pennies on the dollar. This fails to recognize the importance of their contribution and this new location has been built to serve as a paradigm shift in that thinking.”

The goal was to create the world’s most technologically advanced and aesthetically pleasing call center to provide first class customer service in an open and nurturing environment. Bristol has equipped the new location with state-of-the-art Apple technology, ergonomic workstations and, unheard of in the customer service industry, flexible workstations. Employees will be able to work remotely anywhere in the building they find comfortable because their wireless laptops will be able to be used anywhere in the center.

Below are a few highlights of what makes the San Jose office unique:

• All employees will have Apple MacBooks, which will allow them to work from anywhere in the office.
• In addition to traditional workspaces, there will be several creative workspaces, which will allow employees the flexibility to answer customer calls from almost anywhere in the building.
• ICD believes workplaces should encourage being healthy so there will be a gym with exercise equipment.
• ICD is a child friendly workplace, as parents should not have to worry if there is ever a breakdown in childcare. The new offices will ultimately have day care with tutors.

Intelicare Direct is a fast-growing, full-service customer support company, which acts as an external customer service department. The company provides customer care that’s friendly, reliable and professional. By providing industry-leading customer satisfaction, businesses can focus on building profits instead of costly infrastructure.

In just under two-and-a-half years during his tenure as CEO, Bristol has grown the company from just 60 employees working out of a warehouse to an estimated 800 employees by the end of the year.

“Intelicare Direct has built and maintains a strong and supportive company culture where employees’ happiness comes first and success is measured by more than the number of calls handled. Commerce and compassion can reside in the same space,” said Bristol. “We attribute our success to our people and look forward to continuing to reform the call center corporate culture.”

Employee satisfaction is the foundation that has enabled Bristol and Intelicare Direct to successfully develop turnkey solutions, effective customer care, and sales programs for small and medium-sized businesses.

About Intelicare Direct: Intelicare Direct is a leading customer service solutions company based in America, offering businesses effective ways to improve customer satisfaction, sales and quality assurance. Intelicare Direct increases companies’ bottom lines by catering to their number one asset--the customers. Intelicare Direct’s services include Inbound Customer Service, Technical Support, Outbound Sales, Lead Generation, and Reporting. For more information please visit www.intelicaredirect.com.

Apple Purchases "N1" Development Site in North San Jose!!!

It looks like Apple is doubling down on San Jose even before they move into the 290,000 SQFT of office they leased at 101Tech. Doubling down would be putting it lightly since this time around they are not renting... they are buying.

Apple is purchasing the entire development site for the N1 Office Campus off of First Street and Component Drive in North San Jose! The $138 million deal will buy them 43 acres ripe for an epic project. 1.8 million SQFT of office was already planned for the site, with a grand total of 2.8 million SQFT entitled. That theoretically means that Apple could build the same amount of office space in San Jose as their new spaceship in Cupertino.

Nathan Donato-Weinstein from the SVBJ even got an official statement from Apple:

"As we continue to grow, we're planning to build R&D facilities and some additional office space in San Jose," spokeswoman Rachel Wolf said in an emailed statement. "The property isn't far from the future home of our new campus and we're looking forward to expanding our presence in the Bay Area."

If this purchase isn't a huge vote of confidence for the San Jose market, I don't know what is! I just hope that Apple will opt for an iconic office design now that they own the land.

Sources: SVBJ, SocketSite

Apple is Setting Up Shop in San Jose!!!

In what will likely be the most talked about San Jose commercial real-estate deal for months, Apple is leasing the 300,000 SQFT 101 Tech campus in North San Jose! This is a two-story building formerly used by Atmel that has huge 150,000 SQFT floor plates that tech companies seem to love these days. The property was substantially renovated with skylights, outdoor amenity space, and a new facade. Next door... 12 acres of land already approved for 665,000 SQFT of new office space. Perhaps Apple will snap that up as well.

It is still unclear which department Apple will choose to locate here. I'm going to speculate a new project, like Apple's future electric cars. The location is pretty close to Tesla and many of the companies that Tesla is sourcing components from (FYI, Tesla is looking at San Jose office space as well). What is clear, is that this will have a huge branding impact on San Jose. Could this be the deal that opens up the floodgates for even more tech companies to invest in San Jose?

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's Avago Buying Broadcom for $37 Billion

Avago is a chip manufacturer headquartered in North San Jose off of Trimble. They are buying Broadcom--one of their competitors--for $37 Billion. That is Billion with a "B" not a typo. The new combined company will be worth over $77 Billion and instantly become one of Silicon Valley's largest companies.

Broadcom is based in Irvine but has offices in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and San Jose. Given the large amounts of land in North San Jose well-suited for manufacturing companies, I wouldn't be surprised to see the new company consolidate all of their Silicon Valley operations in San Jose at some point in the future.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's Outset Medical Raises $60 Million

Outset Medical has developed an in-home dialysis machine called Tablo for those with kidney failure. It would be a huge quality-of-live improvement to be able to do these treatments from home instead of having to go to a dialysis center several times per week. Tablo is capable to purifying regular tap water, creating dialysate, and delivering medication. It does this using a simple UI and dramatically reduces how much time is required for patients to undergo treatment.

Outset Medical has just raised their Series B investment round, which will clock in right around $60 million. That is quite a substantial amount for a young company founded just five years ago. However, this is a $13 billion market and their product already has FDA clearance for clinics and hospitals (they are working on clearance for home use), so it looks like this round is more about scaling and delivering the product rather than creating it.

Outset Medical is located in North San Jose near SJC at 1830 Bering Drive. Check out the short video below for a little bit more information.

Source: MedCity News