Principle is marketing the land to corporations and developers,and already has inked a deal with Balch Enterprises. The industrialdeveloper is purchasing 11 acres, and plans to build afour-building, 175,000-sf facility on that land. The purchase pricewas not immediately available.

There also are preliminary plans for a 1.5 million-sf researchand development park on a portion of the property, all of which iszoned for warehousing, distribution, research and development.Principle says the land is in high demand due to the area's lowvacancy rate thanks to an increase in the number of Bay areacompanies seeking refuge from high rents. Asking rates were notimmediately available.

Livermore and the surrounding towns of Dublin, Pleasanton andTracy also are benefiting from skyrocketing housing costs andtraffic closer to San Jose. Companies are increasingly choosing tolocate on the Valley's edge in order to take advantage of thearea's relatively cheaper living costs and opportunities for moreoffice space at lower prices.