Oppidan Investment hopes to replace six warehouses in Fremont with a 130,000-square-foot plant for advanced manufacturers.
The Minnesota-based developer has filed plans to demolish the six warehouses at 2132, 2154 and 2160 Prune Avenue and replace them with the industrial building, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
Oppidan now seeks Alameda County approval for an environmental remediation plan for the site, which it described as “contaminated.”
The warehouses date to the mid-20th Century and were once home to manufacturers that processed or handled hazardous materials, public records show.
The replacement plant would “fit the needs of the modern R&D tenant,” the developer wrote in its application. It said the project just west of Interstate 680 could be subdivided for two tenants.
This would not be Oppidan’s first venture in the Bay Area.
Last spring, the Twin Cities-based firm unveiled plans for a $44.5 million, 122,000-square-foot industrial facility in South San Jose as part of a joint venture with Boston-based private equity firm Rockpoint.
In February 2022, Oppidan teamed up with Harrison Street Real Estate Capital to acquire land in Santa Clara, where they plan to build a 50-megawatt, 200,000-square-foot data facility.
Ian Halker, vice president of development for Oppidan, told The Real Deal the firm had 700,000 square feet of industrial space at various stages of construction in the Bay Area and that it owned more than 33 acres in the region.
It’s also looking to build nearly 100 homes for seniors in Santa Cruz.
Since it was founded in 1991 by Joe Ryan, Oppidan has built more than $4.3 billion in projects, including 565 developments in 40 states and Canada totalling 26.4 million square feet, according to its website.
Fremont has seen several major plans for industrial projects over the last year, according to the Business Times.
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Developers Clarion Partners proposed a 470,000-square-foot project, while Herman Christensen & Sons moved forward on a 450,000-square-foot facility.
The city’s 23.6-million-square-foot industrial market had a vacancy rate of 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Its net absorption, a measure of new space leased minus space vacated over a given period, was negative 7,000 square feet.
— Dana Bartholomew