GOOGLE GOBBLES SPACE

August 24, 2011 | 8:00 am ET Staff Reporter

Google recently leased nearly 716k SF in Technology Corners (isn’t that also the name of a TV show about geeks?), marking its first major lease in Sunnyvale.

Google took the entire campus of four Class-A office buildings and a 16k SF fitness center on 26.5 acres at 803-811 11th Ave. Cornish & Carey Commercial Newmark Knight Frank EVP Phil Mahoney repped landlord Jay Paul Co. Reached on holiday in Scotland (those boats have bagpipes instead of foghorns), Phil tells us multiple corporations pursued the opportunity. CB Richard Ellis repped Google. (We tried to get a comment, but SVP Jeff Houston wasn’t comfy because there’s a confidentiality agreement.) According to Phil, this was a significantly large transaction overshadowed only by a pair of 1M SF deals by VMWare and Facebook. He adds that Silicon Valley’s Class-A market has a dwindling supply of space.

Jay Paul developed the campus in 2000 and originally leased it to Ariba Inc, later subleased some space to various tenants. Google will occupy the property when Ariba’s master lease expires in '13. With only a few large vacant spaces remaining in Mountain View, the Internet giant opted to secure space in neighboring Sunnyvale to accommodate its projected growth. Google says it expects to increase its employee roster by more than 6,000 this year—the company has already added more than 4,300 workers year-to-date. Technology Corners can accommodate nearly 3,000 employees.

The campus is adjacent to Jay Paul’s 52-acre, 1.8M SF Moffett Towers (above), where HP, Microsoft, and Motorola Mobility recently signed leases totaling 870k SF. Phil says Silicon Valley’s office market continues to rebound, absorbing more than 4M SF so far this year. Despite the spate of hefty leasing already by several corporations, a number of large requirements are still out there. He sees a continuing flight to quality by strong tech tenants “looking for outstanding offices from which to recruit and retain employees.”