Just how hot are potential tenants for Kilroy Realty and Hunter/Storm’s spec project in downtown Redwood City?
Very.
“There are about 15 major users requiring 100,000 square feet or greater that are interested in this project,” John Kilroy, president and CEO of Kilroy Realty Corp., told analysts on an
earnings call on Oct. 29.
Construction is slated to begin soon on the project, called Crossing/900. The development on 950 East Middlefield Road will be downtown Redwood City’s biggest-ever office campus. It will transform a 2.3-acre parking lot, formerly owned by the city, to include roughly 300,000 square feet of Class A office space and 5,000 square feet of retail. (Click here to read more details.)
“Redwood City is experiencing a strong renaissance among both businesses and residents interested in locating or expanding on the San Francisco Peninsula,” Kilroy told analysts. “It has a very attractive location on the bay, close proximity to the airports, to two major freeways, and of course the rail station next door. It has an established urban vibe, an amenityrich town center and a variety of housing options.”
Kilroy is among the most active developers in the Peninsula, with major projects for Synopsys (in Mountain View) and LinkedIn (in Redwood City) currently under construction. It also just completed an 88,000-square-foot office for voice/audio company Audience in Mountain View.
Crossing/900, with a price tag of roughly $180 million, will be LEED Gold, Kilroy said. The publicly traded real estate investment trust is looking at deals in the range of $50 a square foot annually. Kilroy said that’s up from rents at comparable projects a year ago, which were in the $36-$38 range.
Two other major projects in Redwood City are on the boards. Jay Paul Co. is eyeing a major campus after buying the former Malibu Grand Prix site, though the company must still receive entitlements. And Stanford University was recently cleared to build a satellite campus for its administrative employees on land it has owned since 2005 near Woodside Road and Highway 101. (We’ll have more on the Stanford project in the weeks ahead.)
Nathan Donato-Weinstein covers commercial real estate and transportation for the Silicon Valley Business Journal.