Boston Properties invests in massive Silicon Valley tech complex

New campus in San Jose to add 1.1M sf with 3 buildings

Construction on Platform 16 is set to begin this spring. (Credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox)
Construction on Platform 16 is set to begin this spring. (Credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox)

Boston Properties is growing its footprint in California’s office market with a 1.1-million square-foot office complex in Silicon Valley geared to attracting the world’s biggest tech companies.

The New York-based real estate trust is teaming up with TMG Partners to develop an office campus called Platform 16 in downtown San Jose, Bloomberg reported. It’s one of the firm’s most significant investments in West Coast office space since it acquired the 1.2-million square-foot Santa Monica Business Park from Blackstone last April.

Boston Properties will lease the land from TMG and Valley Oak Partners, with an option next year to buy it for $134.8 million. The firm said it will take ownership of Platform 16, but it is also considering taking on a partner for a significant stake of the project.

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Platform 16 will be located at 440 W. Julian Street. It will include three buildings, and be near where Google is planning its new 8-million square-foot mixed-use complex. The new campus will have 16 outdoor terraces, a gym and a conference center. Construction is expected to start this spring and be complete as early as 2021.

Boston Properties is one of the largest landlords in the Northeast U.S. It entered the Los Angeles market in 2016, when it purchased a $500-million stake in the Colorado Center in Santa Monica, also from Blackstone. The firm now controls 24 percent of the Class A office market in Santa Monica. [Bloomberg] — Gregory Cornfield