San Francisco-based Shorenstein bought two Class A office buildings in North San Jose for a total of $235 million, with plans to renovate one of the properties’ lobby and common areas and make market-ready improvements to both.
The real estate investment company closed the deal on Tuesday for America Center I and America Center II, a pair of six-story office buildings completed in 2009 that collectively have 430,852 square feet of space. Shorenstein bought the properties from USAA Real Estate, paying about $549 a square foot. USAA bought them for about $431 a square foot in 2013, according to documents filed with the Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
A Shorenstein spokesperson declined to comment for this story, and a USAA Real Estate representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
America Center I totals 220,872 square feet and is located at 6001 America Center Drive. Its roster of tenants includes Versa Networks, VIAVI Solutions and Poly, a video conferencing company and headset maker that agreed to lease the entire building in 2011 but has since put much of its space there up for sublease.
One of the reasons Shorenstein was drawn to America Center I was the opportunity to re-lease the building once Poly vacates its space there, which it’s expected to do once its lease expires next year, according to a person with knowledge of Shorenstein’s plans who was not allowed to talk publicly about them.
America Center II, meanwhile, is located at 6201 America Center Drive and houses the U.S. headquarters of electronics manufacturer Flex, which signed a long-term lease for 130,000 square feet there in 2012. Only one space — totaling 9,272 square feet — is listed as available for lease, according to America Center’s website.
Shorenstein plans to renovate the lobby and common areas in America Center I and make market-ready improvements to it and America Center II, according to the source with knowledge of the company’s plans. It’s also replacing the previous listing team for both buildings, comprised of brokers Scott Dever and Jeff Cushman of Cushman & Wakefield, with a team of Cushman brokers — Steve Horton, Kelly Yoder and Colin Feichtmeir — as well as Sherman Chan, a senior vice president at CBRE, according to a different source with knowledge of Shorenstein’s plans.
The new team of listing brokers successfully leased up the Rose Orchard office complex in North San Jose on behalf of Shorenstein, which the investment firm bought for $70.2 million in 2015 and then reportedly sold for $128.2 million in 2019.
The sale of America Center I and II marks the latest significant office trade in the North San Jose submarket over the past year. Earlier this month, global investment firm KKR, through one of its trusts, bought a 603,666-square-foot office campus in the area for $535 million, or about $886 a square foot. Last November, Blackstone Group, also through one of its trusts, acquired two office buildings leased to Roku Inc. in North San Jose for $275 million, or about $770 a square foot.
Meanwhile, some of the region’s largest employers are reaffirming their commitment to the area. ASML, for example, recently opened a new research-and-development campus at 80 W. Tasman Drive and 125 Rio Robles.