These commercial real estate sales rocked our world in 2014

Nathan Donato-Weinstein

Real Estate Reporter-Silicon Valley Business Journal

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The year just ended was a big one for commercial real estate sales in Silicon Valley, with major deals on both the owner/user and investor fronts.

In the spirit of end-of-the-year wrap-ups, I’ve compiled some of the top deals into a handy list below, with links back to the original deal stories.

One not included: Blackstone’s $3.5 billion sale of the Bay Area Equity Office portfolio to Equity Office. That’s because the deal is not yet closed.

Also, I didn’t include multifamily sales (and there were plenty of those this year). My data comes from my reporting, Real Capital Analytics, and PropertyShark.com. Feel free to let me know with an email if I missed anything, which is always possible. (I’m including 11 deals instead of 10, since Nos. 8 and 10 could conceivably be seen as part of a single acquisition.)

1. Pacific Shores, Redwood City

Price:$585 million

Buyer: Google

Seller: Blackstone/Starwood

Date: October 2014

Google’s purchase of about 934,000 square feet in six buildings at Redwood City’s Pacific Shores (1200, 1300, and 1600-1900 Seaport Blvd.) tops our list of sales in the Valley. The seller was Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital. Read more here and here.

2. Vallco, Cupertino

Price:$318.5 million*

Buyer: Sand Hill Property Co. (in partnership with the U.S. subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority)

Sellers: Sears, JCPenney, Macy’s, Vallco Shopping Center LLC.

Date: October-November 2014

After years of laying the groundwork, Sand Hill Property Co. acquired essentially all of the land and buildings at Vallco Shopping Mall this fall, setting the stage for one of the largest redevelopment projects in Cupertino history (aside from Apple Campus 2, of course). Read more here.

(*Multiple sellers included in this price, but the deal seems like it is best represented as an overall figure since it was all or nothing. JCPenney sold a 202,000-square foot building for $68 million; Macy’s sold long-term ground lease for $32 million; Sears sold its 360,000-square-foot building for $102.5 million; Vallco Shopping Center LLC sold for roughly $116 million.)

3. The Pruneyard, Campbell

Price:$280 million

Buyer: Ellis Partners/Fortress Investment Group

Seller: Equity Office (Blackstone Group)

Date: October 2014

Ellis Partners hasn’t yet revealed its plans for refreshing the popular mixed-use center, but we’re hearing that the company intends to boost the walkability of the project and create better linkage between the various elements. Read more about the Pruneyard here andhere.

4. Pacific Shores, Redwood City

Price:$260 million

Buyer: DivcoWest

Seller: Shorenstein

Date: November 2014

Yup — Pacific Shores makes another appearance on our top deals list. This time, 1400 and 1500 Seaport (home to Abbott Laboratories and DreamWorks Animation) sold to DivcoWest Properties for about $260 million. The deal means there remain three owners at Pacific Shores — Google, Divco and Informatica. Read more here.

5. 700 E. Middlefield Road, Mountain View

Price:$250 million

Buyer: Google

Seller: Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management

Date: May 2014

Another big acquisition for Google, which is no surprise since Google’s dealmaking was the major story of the year in real estate. The 400,000-square-foot campus (formerly theSynopsys headquarters) could be a future redevelopment site. Read more here.

6. Parkside Towers, Foster City

Price:$205 million

Buyer: Heitman/Teachers Retirement System of Illinois

Seller: Harvest Properties/Invesco Real Estate

Date: February 2014

The deal came after Harvest filled up vacancy at the 400,000-square-foot complex with Guidewire. Read more here.

7. Mountain View Corporate Center, Mountain View

Price: About $154 million

Buyer: Rockwood Capital

Seller: Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management

Date: June 2014

One of the few business complexes in Mountain View that didn’t sell to Google this year, the Mountain View Corporate Center includes about 250,000 square feet of space in a campus setting not far from transit. Read more here.

8. Mission Tower 1, Santa Clara (3975 Freedom Circle)

Price:$148.8 million

Buyer: Prudential Real Estate Investors

Seller: Blackstone

Note: See No. 10, below.

9. Montague Pointe, San Jose

Price:$137.8 million

Buyer: Met Life

Seller: Spear Street Capital

The single North San Jose asset on our top sales list of 2014 includes about 420,000 square feet of space and is fully leased. Read more here.

10. Cisco Tower/Mission Tower 2 (3985 Freedom Circle)

Price:$132 million

Buyer: Prudential Real Estate Investors

Seller: Shorenstein

Date: Second quarter, 2014

Together with Mission Tower 1, these two deals put the two towers, totaling about 600,000 square feet, under single ownership for the first time in years. Read more here.

11. 10 Almaden, downtown San Jose

Price:$116.7 million

Buyer: KBS REIT III

Seller: Equity Office/Blackstone Group

Date: November 2014

Downtown San Jose didn’t see too many office tower sales in 2014, probably because much of the Class A assets there have traded. But 10 Almaden selling is ending the year on a high note because it is considered one of the crown jewels in the central business district. Read more here.