Silicon Valley Office Campus to Add Retail, Hotel

By Gail Kalinoski

Mission Park expansion rendering, Santa Clara, Calif.

Santa Clara, Calif.—Washington Holdings, a Seattle-based institutional commercial real estate investment firm, is revamping its 46-acre Mission Park office campus in Santa Clara by adding 24,000 square feet of retail and a five-story, 175-room extended-stay hotel to the property.

The firm, which also has offices in Santa Clara and Los Angeles, has received approval from the City of Santa Clara for the addition to the site, located about one mile from Levi’s Stadium. Mission Park, near Highway 101, spans a large stretch of Montague Expressway and is bordered by Mission College Boulevard and Lafayette Street.

Washington Holdings, which acquires, develops, manages and invests in real estate assets within the western United States, bought Mission Park three years ago and has invested about $20 million in upgrades to building facades, common areas and adding new outdoor amenity spaces and sidewalks to create a more modern, pedestrian-friendly environment. The firm said leasing has already increased by more than 350,000 square feet.

Now the firm is transforming a 6.58-acre portion of the property by razing three office buildings–one two-story and two single-story structures that were built between 1980 and 1983–and erecting an Element hotel and retail structures. Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2017 and be completed by mid-2018. A total of five single-story retail buildings, ranging in size from 1,300 to 7,200 square feet, will be developed to add restaurants and other services to the campus. When the new development is finished, the property will have 560,000 square feet of office and R&D space remaining.

“In 2013, we took over Mission Park with the goal of creating a high quality, modern office park catering to small and mid-sized tech companies,” Casey Holt, VP & general manger of Washington Holdings, said in a prepared statement. “With the office building renovations now complete throughout the Park and approvals in place on the retail and hotel redevelopment, our vision for an amenity-rich Mission Park will soon be fully realized.”

Newmark Cornish & Carey, part of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, is marketing the project for leasing. The team is led by Senior Managing Director Mike Saign, Executive Managing Director Jeff Arrillaga and Executive Vice President Todd Shaffer.

The retail portion of Mission Park is being marketed for lease by Cushman & Wakefield’s James Chung and Todd Beatty.

“It is critical in today’s competitive marketplace to provide tenants with a thoughtful array of amenities that have become commonplace within large corporate campuses,” Saign said in prepared remarks. “The new on-site retail and hotel will complete the package for Mission Park in offering the best in class office/R&D facilities for tenants to successfully recruit and retain top Silicon Valley talent.”

Starwood did not return Commercial Property Executive’s request for information or confirmation on the planned Element hotel in the Mission Park complex. That information was supplied by Newmark Cornish & Carey and Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.

Element is described as the first major hotel brand to mandate that all properties pursue sustainable certifications. The brand is known for its “clean, modern design and eco-conscious programming.” Starwood introduced Element Hotels in 2008. In April, Starwood announced it planned to significantly expand the brand, more than doubling its North America footprint over the next three years. The company plans to enter several new markets by the end of 2018 including San Antonio; Chandler, Ariz.; Moline, Ill.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Bentonville, Ark.; and Huntsville, Ala. The April 25 press release from the Stamford, Conn.-based hospitality giant did not mention a hotel in the Santa Clara area. But company officials may have been waiting for the City of Santa Clara to approve Washington Holdings’ redevelopment plan before announcing the hotel.