FREMONT — A big tech campus in a section of Fremont now popular with technology companies has been bought by a group headed by a veteran real estate firm in a deal that shows the site’s value has soared.
The Campus @ Ardenwood, a four-building complex on Kaiser Drive in Fremont, has been purchased by an affiliate of Alloy Properties, a life science and innovation subsidiary of Texas-based TPG Real Estate Partners.
The new owner, acting through an affiliate, Argon PropCo 2021, paid $140 million for the tech and biotech campus, according to documents filed on July 27 with the Alameda County Recorder’s Office.
“We are excited to grow our portfolio with the acquisition of Campus @ Ardenwood, an anchor facility in the East Bay’s rapidly growing Ardenwood submarket,” said Jacob Muller, managing director with TPG Real Estate Partners.
Campus @ Ardenwood totals about 323,000 square feet, according to a marketing brochure circulated in 2017.
The seller in the recent deal was an affiliate of RREEF, which is a real estate investment unit of Deutsche Bank.
The RREEF affiliate paid $73.3 million in 2018 for the tech campus, this news organization reported at the time. This suggests that the site’s value has nearly doubled in about three years.
The purchase is the first investment in the Bay Area by Alloy, the TPG Real Estate subsidiary.
“Alloy Properties focuses on acquiring office and research and development campuses that can be converted into best-in-class facilities for life science, biotech, and innovation,” Alloy states on its website.
Investors and developers have been drawn to Fremont’s Ardenwood district partly because it’s located near the Dumbarton Bridge and provides ready access to the Silicon Valley tech hubs to the west and south and offers a convenient commute for tech workers living in the East Bay.
Menlo Park-based Facebook has rented at least 1 million square feet in the immediate vicinity of the just-purchased tech campus.
Tenants in Campus @ Ardenwood include Logitech, a maker of computer mice and other peripherals; SportsMedia Technology, a software company; and Boehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceutical company.
The campus is 100% leased, TPG said.
“We look forward to investing in the property’s capabilities to further solidify its position as a Class A life science and innovation campus,” Muller said.
