San Jose Update

The Redevelopment Agency has issued its monthly report and while activity at downtown San Jose condos seems to be improving, sales continue to be extremely slow:

360 Residences – 0/213 Units Closed Escrow (but they are getting a Subway on the ground floor!)
Axis – 86/329U Closed Escrow
City Heights – 95/124 Units Closed Escrow
Tower 88 – 57/197 [...]

Premier Retail Location in Default

Remember the Premier Retail Location by Santana Row we blogged about back in October? Well not surprisingly, the asset is now in default. On the one hand, only big rents can save this thing, but on the other what is the point of marketing it at a ridiculous rent and simply spinning your wheels?
Looking from the [...]

Align Technology Inks 129K SF Lease

Align Technology (ALGN: 19.43 0.00%) has signed a 7-year lease with Equity Office for two buildings on Orchard Parkway. The 129,000 square foot lease is for 86-months, and consists of two (2) 64,500 SF buildings located at 2560 Orchard Parkway and 2570 Orchard Parkway.
The terms of the lease are:

86 Months
First 2 Months Free
$1.00 NNN start [...]

Apartment Vacancy At 30-Year High; San Jose Leads Rent Declines

REIS put out data yesterday which pegs the vacancy rate for US apartments at a 30-year high. The vacancy rates now stand at roughly 8% according to REIS data.
Rents fell 3% last year, according to Reis, led by declines in San Jose, Calif., Seattle, San Francisco and other cities that had brisk growth until the [...]

$30M For Circque De Soleil

The LA Times has an article out discussing the CIM Group and the investments and loans it has attracted. Locally, CIM has been a fairly active player in the region over the past few years. In San Jose it is known best for being part of the team behind Tower 88. This spring CIM Group [...]

Harmonic Leases 188K SF in North San Jose

It’s been a fairly busy December relative to the rest of the year. A couple big deals have been signed, including the Facebook and Rambus deals.
Harmonic (HLIT: 6.65 0.00%) has also made a big move by signing a lease about a week ago for 188,332 SF at Carlyle Realty’s North First Street project (4300-4400 North [...]

Fairfield Files Chapter 11; San Jose Projects In Limbo

One of the largest developer and owners of apartment communities, Fairfield filed for Chapter 11 on Sunday. Two of Fairfield’s biggest lenders were Wells Fargo and Capmark.
Fairfield has two development projects in San Jose it had been working on, but no word on what the outcome will be following the BK. The two SJ projects [...]

101 Wachovia Branches To Close in California

The digestion of Wachovia by Wells Fargo is underway and as part of the process, Wells Fargo will be closing 101 California branches. In addition, 65 existing Wachovia branches will be rebranded. In Santa Clara County, the three branches to be rebranded include:

Berryessa Rd and Sandstone Ln, San Jose
Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto
Bollinger Rd and [...]

Adobe Cuts 680 – 9% of Workforce

Adobe Systems (ADBE: 35.22 0.00%) has confirmed reports of layoffs by filing an 8-K with the SEC. The final cuts are 680 full-time employees, which amounts to about 9% of the company’s workforce, with a large number of cuts being here locally in the valley.

Adobe Reportedly Laying Off 15%

Reports are circling around the web that San Jose-based Adobe (ADBE: 35.22 0.00%) is having layoffs today. Some (unconfirmed) reports put the number at up to 15% of staff (this likely includes contractors).
We will be hearing of deals getting done over the next few quarters, some fairly big, but the thing to keep in mind [...]