Ireland-based hard drive maker Seagate Technology Holdings sold its 31-acre Fremont research campus to New York-based Madison Capital for $260 million, about 13% below asking price.
Seagate put the campus up for sale in November for $300 million and has secured a lease with Madison to retain, at least temporarily, the 575,000-square-foot property at 47488 Kato Road, San Francisco Business Times reports.
In a statement, Seagate said there would be “no changes to the work experience” for employees on the campus, the outlet said.
The move comes after Seagate announced plans last fall to cut its global workforce by nearly 8%.
The Fremont campus, located off Interstate 880, was built in 2010 at a cost of $300 million on what used to be the Solyndra solar array factory. Seagate paid $90.3 million in 2013 after Solyndra declared bankruptcy in 2011.
Seagate is seeking $40 million more than it was selling for the 31-acre, two-story campus, 11 of which remain undeveloped.
Seagate spent $200 million on a revamp of its Fremont campus in 2016, according to a marketing playbook. The property is LEED Gold certified and features a “combination of high-quality cleanrooms, laboratories, state-of-the-art office space, robust electrical and robust MEP infrastructure”.
Seagate has been consolidating its Bay Area assets since before the pandemic hit, The Business Times reported. In 2017, it ended its decades-long operation in Scotts Valley, and in 2019 it sold a 140,000-square-foot office building in Cupertino.
The New York Times quoted Madison’s website as saying that Madison Capital manages about $3.2 billion in assets.
It was at least the second major office park sale in California in recent months.
In April, Shubin Nadal Realty Investors and DRA Advisors sold the Northridge office park for $171 million — about 30 percent below the listing price.
Orange County-based investment firm Pendulum Property Partners purchased the 761,000-square-foot The Mix on Harman’s campus at 8500 Balboa Boulevard for $224 per square foot.
— Ted Glazer
