Big Santa Clara office building near Great America lands buyer

SANTA CLARA — A big office and research building in Santa Clara near the Great America Amusement Park has been bought by a construction company in a sign of ongoing investor interest in Silicon Valley commercial sites.

DPR Construction, a veteran general contractor, bought the building, known for its distinctive wedge shape as seen from the street, according to documents filed on Sept. 14 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.

The construction company, acting through an affiliate, paid $49.4 million for the building, the county records show. W.F. Batton, a development firm, was the seller.

Cushman & Wakefield brokers Steve Horton and Kelly Yoder and Savills brokers Kelly Givens and David Gordon arranged the property purchase, which was an all-cash deal.

The building totals 150,000 square feet and was empty at the time of the purchase, according to Cushman & Wakefield and Savills, which are commercial real estate firms.

Apple was the last known tenant in the building but the tech titan exited the site about a year ago.

The new owner couldn’t immediately be reached for comment to discuss the plans for the property.

What is clear, however, is that the building is located in an area that is poised to experience a considerable amount of commercial property redevelopment.

A few blocks away, the land beneath the Great America amusement park was bought for $310 million in June by Prologis, one of the nation’s largest real estate development and investment firms.

A wide range of uses, including housing, office buildings, industrial centers, advanced manufacturing facilities, and tech sites could sprout on the Great America property.

Plus, developers are eyeing new housing or office buildings on other properties in the vicinity.

The just-purchased building at 5201 Patrick Henry was once a manufacturing center for Dysan, a maker of storage media such as floppy disks, disk drives and tape drives.

The building boasted dramatic features even in past decades when the now-defunct Dysan occupied the site. Those architectural components were described in the marketing brochure that Cushman & Wakefield distributed.

“Large indoor atriums, glass ceilings, expansive exterior terraces and one-of-a-kind architecture” are among the features of the building that were detailed in the Cushman & Wakefield sales brochure.