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

Bentek Expanding San Jose Manufacturing Facilities

Bentek is a true homegrown San Jose Company that builds electrical products for a variety of industries. They were founded here in 1985 and still remain headquartered in San Jose (2350 Harris Way). They are adding 100,000 SQFT of manufacturing space at 1991 Senter Road in Central San Jose. The space will be used to build AC/DC power products for both the solar and semiconductor industries. Over the past three years alone, the company has grown from 100 to 240 employees, and they are expecting to continue growing in the near future.

Source: San Jose Economy Newsletter

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

Federal Realty Building 1 Million SQFT of Office Space Across from Santana Row

Federal Realty is changing their development plans for the former Winchester Theaters parking lot across from their flagship property, Santana Row. Residential has been completely removed from the project. Instead, they have decided to double-down on offices and develop a million square feet of high-end commercial space across six buildings. Each of those will range between six and nine stories, with parking taking the first three floors on the majority of the buildings. There is no surface parking, all 2,545 parking spaces will be in the garages.

There will be at least one retail component, a 29,000 SQFT grocery store that I'm sure will be popular with residents across the street at Santana Row. There is also a big question mark on what Federal Realty will do with the only Dome that was saved (which you can see on the lower left of the first render below). Speculated use has ranged from a performance arts theater to a beer garden.

This won't be the only major project in the area. Westfield is well underway with a $600 million expansion of Valley Fair. Plans have been submitted for a 12-story boutique hotel at 2850 Stevens Creek, where a gas station currently sits. There is also a proposal for 650 new apartments at 881 S. Winchester Avenue (replacing a 216 unit project), and another one for 160 residential units along with 12,000 SQFT of retail at 751 S. Winchester.

The neighborhood is certainly going to look quite a bit differently in a few years. Hopefully the new Bus Rapid Transit line will be operational by the time these projects are completed. A new Winchester Advisory Group has been meeting to great a plan with recommended transit improvements. At least the office project will not add to weekend traffic and will add much needed parking spaces to the Santana Row/Valley Fair area.

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

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

Splunk Is Leasing a 234,000 SQFT Santana Row Office Building!

The newest office building at Santana Row is getting a tenant well before construction is even completed, and it's a significant one. Splunk is a leading data mining company that went public in 2012. The company is currently headquartered in a 213,000 SQFT building in San Francisco. While they are not planning to move their headquarters, Splunk has decided to dramatically increase their investment in the South Bay and move their modest Cupertino operations to one of the most impressive office buildings in Silicon Valley.

The new building at 500 Santana Row has nearly a quarter million square feet and is situated at the tail end of the row with easy access to a couple dozen restaurants, premier shopping, and many other amenities. The office itself has every luxury feature a tenant could possibly want including 13-foot ceilings, outdoor terraces, and an onsite cafe. You can check out some of the renderings below.

This represents a huge win for San Jose and Santana Row. Splunk will bring as many as 1,300 high-paying tech jobs to San Jose with immediate access to San Jose retail. The city will get increased tax revenue from both the office component and sales taxes from Splunk's employees that are shopping and dining out. This double-dipping is one of the many benefits of mixed-use projects. The fact that this is a San Francisco company investing in building a quality outpost in the South Bay and not the other way around is also notable.

Sources: SVBJ, Hillrise from the San Jose Development Forum

San Jose Targets Manufacturing Growth With New Incentives

While manufacturing may not be as sexy as many of the tech jobs that dominate Silicon Valley right now, the sector is a critical source of middle-class jobs and tax revenue for our city. Last month Sam Liccardo unveiled a collection of incentives to boost manufacturing under a new program called "We Are Built in San Jose."

The incentives include waiving permit fees for renovating existing manufacturing building, guaranteeing permit approvals within 60 days for expanding and relocating manufacturing companies, cutting construction taxes by 75% (from a 4% tax to a 1% tax), and special PG&E rates.

There are tons of available manufacturing buildings throughout San Jose, particularly in North San Jose, that are just collecting dust. While several existing companies are expanding their manufacturing capabilities in San Jose, there are still millions of square feet of space to fill. The advent of 3D printing and advanced robotics will one day make it much more cost effective to build locally in the US than oversees. Now is the time to start preparing for that future and expanding our manufacturing capabilities.

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

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

Equinix Building Data Center in South San Jose

Xilinx has recently sold a 34-acre site in Edenvale to one of the largest operators of data centers in the US, Equinix. The company is planning to build a brand new data center in the area bound by Santa Teresa, San Ignacio Avenue, Via del Oro, and Great Oaks Boulevard. This will be the first major new construction project in the area in years.

There seems to be some downside since a data center won't bring as many jobs as a traditional office building. However, the project will bring much-needed property tax dollars to the City of San Jose while having a minimal impact on traffic and infrastructure... not a bad deal at all.

Source: SVBJ

Apigee Officially Filed for an IPO

Downtown San Jose company Apigee has officially filed for an IPO (they will be trading under the Nasdaq ticker "APIC"). The company makes tools to manage and support APIs (Application Program Interfaces). They are the fifth-fastest growing tech company in North America and currently have a valuation of over $700 million. In 2014 they moved from Palo Alto to Downtown San Jose, a big win for our city that is only made more significant by this IPO. Hopefully, Apigee employees will use some of their new riches to contribute to the local community.

Source: Silicon Beat

Coding Dojo Moves to San Jose

Coding Dojo is a computer programming boot camp that turns people into coders in just 3-4 months. They have recently moved their HQ from Mountain View to a larger and more modern space in North San Jose (1982 Zanker Road). Due to high demand, they are also hoping to open a second San Jose location in the next couple months.

In addition to the new digs, Coding Dojo has pledged to increase both female and minority enrollment. They have already gotten their female enrollment up from 10-15% to 25-30% in just the last six months.

The standard 12-week classes have 25-35 student "cohorts" and cost between $10,500 and $12,500. That sounds like a bargain compared to the astronomical salaries you can rack up in the tech world.

Source: SVBJ

Boston Properties Planning New Tech Campus in North San Jose

Three aging buildings at Boston Properties' North First Business Park are being cleared to make way for a brand new tech campus that could have up to 1.5 million SQFT of office space across seven buildings between 5-11 stories. However, it looks like these will likely not be built speculatively. Boston Properties is waiting for an anchor tenant before beginning construction.

There would be some retail included as part of the project along North First and some of the parking will be underground. The new campus will either be built in two or three phases depending on how large that first anchor tenant is. More details in the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's Fastback Networks Raises $15M

Fastback Networks is developing technology to improve the performance of LTE wireless networks, something I'm sure we can all appreciate. The cornerstone of their technology is to enable smaller cells that offload the primary cell towers.

A couple weeks ago, Fastback Networks closed a $15 million Series C funding round led by Harmony Partners. This brings the total investment they have collected since being founded in 2010 to $41 million.

Fastback is headquartered in North San Jose at 2460 North 1st Street, Suite 200. Its always nice to see venture funding coming to San Jose companies and not just Palo Alto and Mountain View startups.

Source: SVBJ

Network Remedy Joining 110+ Tech Companies Downtown

Network Remedy is a cloud hosting and consulting firm. They are headquartered in Pittsburg, but wanted to open an office Silicon Valley in order to be closer to the majority of their clients. Network Remedy has decided to relocate 58 of their employees to an office at 4th and Saint James.

They chose downtown San Jose because of the ample social gatherings, mixers for young professionals, and the plethora of events Downtown. There are now over 110 tech companies in Downtown San Jose with more in the pipeline!

Source: SJ Economy News

Saturday Stats: The San Jose Metro Has the #3 Highest GDP Per Capita in the World

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) represents the value of all goods and services produced withing a country's borders over the course of a year. GDP per capita is an offshoot metric that looks at the average amount each individual produces in a given area, and includes everyone in the population even if they do not work.

It turns out that San Jose has the highest GDP per capita in the US and the third highest in the entire world. Only Zurich and Oslo ranked higher. San Jose's GDP per capita came in at $77,440 per person while San Francisco was $66,790.

Also worth noting is that San Jose is one of only 32 metros in the US that have fully recovered from the recession.

Source: SiliconBeat

Samsung in San Jose will Beat Apple & Facebook to Achieving Landmark Campus Status

The first Tech company in Silicon Valley to have a truly landmark building when it comes to architecture is not going to be Apple, Facebook, or Nvidia. It's going to be Samsung in North San Jose. At 10-stories it will be the tallest "traditional" tech campus in the valley and also one of the most unique. Each floor will always be at most one level away from an outdoor green space with trees and plants. This will make more sense after you watch the video below.

When completed later this year it will have 680,000 SQFT and home to at least 600 employees.

Source: Venturebeat


Samsung North America Headquarters from nbbjdesign on Vimeo.