Despite the threats brought by the coronavirus global pandemic, Silicon Valley buildings remain a red hot market in the commercial real estate sector. Most of the buyers drawing interest in the area are tech or life science tenants expanding their businesses.
A big-time global real estate investor recently acquired two large office buildings in Fremont's Adenwood district. One of which was leased to Elon Musk's company - Neuralink.
Based on a public document filed in Alameda County last April 9, 2021, BentallGreenOak, acting through affiliate BGO Ardenwood Owner purchased the two buildings for a whopping $51.3 million.
The company obtained a loan amounting to $30.25 million from Wells Fargo Bank to finance the commercial real estate purchase. While the big-time real estate firm has $55 billion property assets acted as the principal buyer of both acquisitions, property documents show that Harvest Properties has a part in the group's ownership.
Tech and Life Science Hub Magnet
According to the county property records, the two buildings acquired by BentallGreenOak are located on Fremont Campus Drive near Kaiser Drive. The said area is known to be an emerging tech hub called Ardenwood Technology Park.
Fremont's Ardenwood Technology Park has always been a magnet for different tech and life sciences companies. In fact, JLL stated that Ardenwood had been transformed over the years.
"Life sciences companies especially have been flocking to Ardenwood Technology Park due to its close proximity and easy access to Silicon Valley and the Peninsula," the JLL brochure reads.
Ardenwood Technology Park is also strategically located near the east end of the Dumbarton Bridge, which has access to the leading tech hubs of Silicon Valley.
"If you look at companies like Facebook and Tesla, they have a presence on the west side of the Dumbarton Bridge," says commercial real estate firm Colliers executive vice president Dave Sandlin.
"Ardenwood offers a less-expensive place for expansion," Sandlin added.
Tech hubs in the Fremont area also allow companies to cut down on the commute time of workers who live in the East Bay or Central Valley.
"Ardenwood gives companies the ability to tap a labor pool that is probably a little bit hesitant to take that extra commute across the bridge," Sandlin explained.
Elon Musk's Neuralink
One of the two buildings purchased by BentallGreenOak is leased to Nueralink - a company owned by Tesla and SpaceX's big boss, Elon Musk.
The 42,000 square-foot building is located at 34781 Campus Drive, while AnaSpec rents the other 44,000 square feet property.
Musk's Neuralink recently shifted its headquarters from San Francisco to Fremont. Musk's company has newly developed a neurological interface that can link a brain to a computer.
"Neuralink has experienced significant growth since inception and could be a logical candidate to expand into the second building within the property," the JLL brochure reads, as reported by East Bay Times.
It looks like the company is still planning to expand as the career page on Neuralink's website shows they are looking into hiring more people to work on the Fremont site.
"We are looking to hire a wide range of people with diverse engineering, scientific, and operations expertise," the Neuralink post reads.
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