A Santa Clara tech office campus on the corner of Central Expressway and De La Cruz Boulevard just sold for $55.5 million, and the price tag is turning heads. The multi-building property has been battling rising vacancies in a market where buyers now expect deep discounts, and this sale is fast becoming Exhibit A for the new reality in Silicon Valley office real estate.
According to documents filed last Wednesday with the Santa Clara County Recorder, Irvine-based LBA Realty paid $55.5 million for the campus, as reported by The Mercury News. The transfer was officially recorded with the county last week.
County records and commercial property data show the previous owner paid $97.6 million for the same site in 2018. PropertyShark lists the 2018 sale price and related tax information, making the size of the markdown easy to see in black and white.
Campus Size, Vacancy, And Prior Renovation
The campus, marketed as "@Central" in a Newmark brochure, totals about 298,300 square feet. The same marketing materials indicated that roughly 92,700 square feet were available for lease, a vacancy level that helps explain why buyers today are in no rush to overpay.
Swift Real Estate Partners previously carried out a large-scale renovation that brought in new front facades and outdoor amenity areas, according to The Mercury News. In other words, this is not some untouched relic from a past cycle, which makes the discounted pricing all the more telling.
What The Sale Means
The latest sale price sits roughly 43.1% below the $97.6 million the previous owner paid in 2018. That gap highlights the significant decline in nominal office valuations in the current market, even for updated campuses in a well-established Silicon Valley city.
For buyers, the investment math has shifted. Instead of betting on a quick rebound, many are now looking to buy at a discount and then grind out returns by re-leasing space, upgrading buildings further, or simply waiting for demand to catch up.
LBA Realty describes itself as a full-service investment and management firm focused on office and industrial properties across the western United States, according to LBA Realty. The firm’s history of repositioning suburban office portfolios suggests this Santa Clara property may be more of a long-term project than a quick flip.
City Planning And Redevelopment Odds
Santa Clara’s recent planning decisions have largely preserved industrial and office uses in parts of the Central Expressway and De La Cruz corridor. That choice reduces the immediate odds that this campus will be converted into housing or some other large-scale residential project.
The Silicon Valley Voice reported on the city’s move to amend its general plan, noting that planning officials pointed to market demand as a factor in keeping the area geared toward office and industrial uses.
The next chapter for the campus hinges on execution: whether LBA can lease up the vacant space, attract higher-quality tenants, or simply hold the property until office demand recovers. For now, the sale stands as an early data point in what brokers expect will be a run of discounted office trades across Silicon Valley in the near term.
