| On The Road Again –
Borland Software Corp., with whom J. R. Parrish Santa Cruz has successfully worked in the past, has announced that it is once again moving--this time it’s from Cupertino to Austin, Texas. Why is the one time star of Scotts Valley’s boom making this change? As so many other firms have done before, they feel the move will allow them to make the most of not only a more advantageous economical situation but also give them the opportunity to draw from a larger and more talented technical workforce, thus allowing the company to maintain their plans for continued expansion. Borland expects to have 150-200 employees in their new Austin location within a year. Some Santa Cruz County Borland employees will be relocating to the new facility, but most will come from the Austin area. Their marketing, legal and sales/services departments are currently planning to remain in the Silicon Valley. Borland may be leaving behind the Campus it created.
In February of 2000, Borland International announced a deal to sell its campus to ScanlanKemperBard (SKB)for $47 million in cash. The local landmark was built in1994 for almost $120 million by Borland Software Corp. founder Philippe Kahn.
Unlike any other building in Santa Cruz County, Borland’s facility at 100 Enterprise Way is far more than mere office space. It was designed by award-winning architect Kevin Roche, who also designed the Oakland Museum of California, additions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Ford Foundation headquarters in New York.
A rock-strewn creek runs through the main lobby, and among the U-shaped cluster of seven three-story buildings, you will find an Olympic-size pool, soccer fields, basketball courts, an indoor theater, an outdoor amphitheater and a gym.
Compared to the balance of space in the Santa Cruz County Commercial Real Estate market, there is nothing to compete with its design and quality of construction. The Campus spans approximately 25 acres of land and 365,000 square feet of rentable office space.
As part of its agreement with SKB, Borland entered into a ten year lease back of approximately 142,000 square feet of office space and 19,000 square feet of storage space, In May of 2004, SKB sold the Campus to Triple Net Properties, a Tenant In Common pioneer out of Santa Anna California, for $59.5 Million. It is rumored that Triple Net is preparing to sell the site once again, as it closes out its package in which this property is held.
As a Santa Cruz County Commercial Real Estate company, J.R. Parrish is of the opinion that the Campus could remain a difficult property to maintain occupancy. Why? Primarily because the property is largely divided into suites of larger than 20,000 s.f. and, therefore, does not suit most local high tech companies. The office market is in such an early stage in its recovery that 20,000 s.f. office tenants are a rare breed.
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