SAN JOSE—All seven buildings of the 27-acre former LAM Research campus on North First Street were constructed in the 1980s and 1990s. Fast forward to today and redevelopment construction is underway to transform the campus, according to a partnership made up of ProspectHill Group and SKS Partners with Invesco Real Estate.

The partnership has branded the new campus Assembly at North First. Occupancy will be available in late summer of 2018.

“Assembly stands on its own merits as a real estate redevelopment project and we are confident of its success. However, the recent announcement by Microsoft to build 1 million square feet in North San Jose near Highway 237 plus San Jose's plans to bid for Amazon's second campus and use a number of development sites along the North First Street corridor as part of its proposal, is reinforcing to us that we have the right project in the right place and at the right time,” Gambhir Kaushek, a principal with ProspectHill Group, tells GlobeSt.com.

The partnership is redeveloping the project in two phases. The first phase entails the complete renovation of four buildings, two of which will be combined into a single 100,000-square-foot building. Interiors and exteriors will be extensively modernized and most importantly, the repositioned property will function as a cohesive office campus environment featuring an acre of landscaped outdoor amenity space and a definitive main street at the campus entrance. When the first phase is completed, there will be approximately 300,000 square feet in three buildings.

Interior building heights will range from approximately 18 feet at building perimeters to 22 feet or more at building centers. Interiors will have abundant natural light and large floorplates. One building at 4000 N. 1st St. will be two stories, while 3960 N. First St. and 3930 N. 1st St. are single-story structures. The partnership is applying for LEED Gold certification from the US Green Building Council for the core and shell renovation.

Gensler is the project architect, Milpitas-based XL Construction Corporation is the general contractor and Hart Howerton is the landscape architect. Architecturally, the new office/R&D property will be unique for Silicon Valley, as it will honor the Valley's legacy of both agriculture and post-World War II industrial production. Building exteriors will have a definitive Industrial Ag look by combining smoothly finished cement plaster with weathered-looking wood paneling and some corrugated metal integrated into the siding. All of the windows will be replaced with contemporary high-performance glazing.

The 27-acre property will also include an onsite fitness center, upgraded locker rooms with showers and storage, and a 1-acre outdoor park with multiple seating and gathering areas, an outdoor fire pit and a pizza oven.

The property is about a quarter of a mile from Highway 237 and 2.5 miles from Levi's Stadium. The @First retail center has numerous restaurants and shops including Target, CVS, Chick-fil-A, Panera, The Coffee Bean & Tea House, Five Guys, Rok Steakhouse and Hyatt House. A Marriott-branded hotel is directly across the street and to the north of Assembly at North First.

The partnership has tapped Michael Rosendin, Craig Fordyce and Shane Minnis from Colliers International's San Jose office to market the Assembly buildings for lease. Asking rental rates have not been established at this time.

The second phase of Assembly at North First does not have a current timeline for redevelopment. Currently, that portion of the property has approximately 200,000 square feet in three buildings of similar vintage to those in this first phase. Those three buildings are currently available for lease on a short-term basis and they could be renovated in a similar fashion to phase one. In total, Assembly at North First is entitled for up to 1.3 million square feet of office and R&D space, per a development agreement with San Jose. The second phase can be demolished to produce 1 million square feet of new construction or more, pursuant to the square footage capacity allowed in the city's North San Jose Area Development Policy.

This is the fourth venture undertaken by ProspectHill Group and SKS, after similar redevelopments in San Jose and San Francisco.

Instant Insights /

Transformation of Former LAM Campus Takes Shape

Related Stories

Recommended For You