PALO ALTO — A constructing at a chief downtown Palo Alto web site has been purchased by a busy developer, a deal that might present clues concerning the power — or weak spot — of the retail strips in Silicon Valley’s downtown markets.
At current, Restoration Hardware occupies the property, a College Avenue retail operation that’s been a downtown Palo Alto fixture for quite a lot of years.
Peter Pau, a veteran developer who heads up actual property agency Sand Hill Property Co., paid $10 million for the constructing, positioned at 281 College Ave. close to the nook of Bryant Avenue, in accordance with paperwork filed on July 8 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Workplace.
The twist within the deal: Pau purchased the constructing with full data that Restoration Hardware by the top of this yr is predicted to exit downtown Palo Alto and shift to a giant flagship retailer on the famed Stanford Procuring Middle close by.
“Peter could be very bullish about downtown Palo Alto and about re-tenanting the constructing,” stated David Taxin, a companion with Meacham/Oppenheimer, a business actual property agency. Taxin organized the property buy on behalf of Paul and Sand Hill Property.
The property buy occurred at a time when downtown Palo Alto is trying to heal — as is the case with nearly each downtown district within the Bay Space and California — from financial woes unleashed by coronavirus-linked enterprise shutdowns that state and native authorities businesses orchestrated to fight the lethal bug.
“Restoration Hardware spent someplace round $3 million to $5 million to renovate the constructing,” Taxin stated.
The sellers, a bunch headed up by an area household belief, tried to promote the constructing for as a lot as $14 million.
“We expect we obtained a fairly whole lot on the constructing at $10 million,” Taxin stated.
The subsequent main problem is to discover a tenant for the constructing as a result of Restoration Hardware expects to open its brand-new flagship at Stanford mall earlier than the top of this yr.
“Downtown Palo Alto has been seeing its points, like each different downtown,” after the coronavirus and with retail trying to return to a brand new regular, Taxin stated.
The constructing totals 15,000 sq. toes, consisting of seven,500 sq. toes of ground-floor retail and seven,500 sq. toes of a basement, Taxin stated.
The results of Sand Hill Property’s makes an attempt to discover a new tenant for the constructing might present clues about downtown Palo Alto’s restoration from its coronavirus illnesses.
“Pau believes he can discover a tenant and that the retail market in Silicon Valley goes to be sturdy,” Taxin stated.