Menlo Equities, 3100 N. 1st St.
About This Project
Location: 3100 N. 1st St., San Jose, California
Even though the economic environment may not warrant a new building at Olcott for some time, having these entitlements completed and in-hand is a material enhancement of and benefit for the property. I know I speak for all of us at Menlo Equities when I say thanks to you and your team for all of your hard work and wise counsel in leading this effort on our behalf. We value our relationship with you and very much appreciate all you have done, and are doing, for and with us.
— Rick Holmstrom, Partner, Menlo Equities
About the Client: Menlo Equities is a fully integrated commercial real estate company engaged in the acquisition, development, and operation of commercial properties.
Project Description: Nova Partners has been engaged by Menlo Equities to provide development management services for their spec project at 3100 N. 1st Street, San Jose. Our scope included obtaining entitlement rights to build a new 65,000 sf podium garage structure to add 208 car parks to bring the count to a market level of 3.5 cars/1000 sf. The entitlement process required a Site Development Permit Amendment to allow the garage, landscaping upgrades, demolition of unhealthy trees, and new building identity signage. Nova was also engaged to upgrade the existing 100,000 sf spec building to help attract a new tenant. The ground floor was renovated with 50,000 sf of market-ready interior improvements designed to meet the needs of a typical tenant, along with upgrades to the building exterior.
Special Features and Challenges: The existing building was a 2-story tilt-up built in the mid-1980’s by Hitachi with interior improvements needing complete replacement. The ground floor was gutted and upgraded with new carpet, ceilings, pendant lights, a new lobby with architectural stairs, full ADA upgrades, and the floor area was opened up to create flexibility for the new tenant. The second floor was left as a warm shell. The project budget was very cost-sensitive and the team took full advantage of the market conditions and completed the upgrades on-schedule and under the target budget. The architect selected materials and systems taking sustainability into account. The completed project delivered an attractive design with a new lobby and helped re-cycle this older building into a market-ready high quality project on a key site at Montague and N. 1st Street.
Nova Partners’ Role: Nova Partners was engaged by Menlo Equities to provide development management services including managing architect, contractor, developing the project budget, schedule, and being responsible to deliver the project on-time and on-budget for 50,000 sf of market-ready improvements. The role also including obtaining entitlements for the project to add a single-level parking deck to increase on-site parking to a 3.5 cars/1000 sf ratio.