This story first appeared in the Wednesday, April 16, edition of the Daily Post. If you want to get all of the important local news first, pick up the Post in the mornings at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations.
BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
The U.S. Geological Survey’s 17-acre Menlo Park campus was sold yesterday for $137 million to Presidio Bay Ventures, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.
The property at 345 Middlefield Road is going to the same developers behind Springline at 1300 El Camino Real in Menlo Park. Springline consists of apartments, upscale restaurants and shops.
The property had been off the market since September 2022, when the GSA asked for $120 million and no one placed a bid. This time around, the GSA asked for a minimum bid of $85 million and the agency opened its bids yes-terday, announcing the winner of the auction.
The three bidders were —
• Menlo Park Owner LP, which shares an address with Starwood Property Trust in Greenwich, Conn., which bid $90 million,
• City Ventures LLC, a real estate developer in the state, which bid $120 million
• Presidio Bay Ventures, which bid as USGS Menlo Park LLC. It placed the winning bid at $137 million.
The sale will now be evaluated by the Department of Justice. The sale will not be official until Presidio Bay Ventures pays the full amount. The process is expected to take about 90 days.
Presidio Bay Ventures did not respond to the Post’s questions about what it has planned for the property.
City officials have not heard any official word about the sale, Menlo Park Mayor Drew Combs said.
A handful of bidders
“I have heard that the auction has resulted in a successful bidder,” said Combs. “I’d heard that there were six or seven (bidders).”
In the past, Combs said council had expressed support for a portion of the property to be reserved for a local school district to use.
“My expectation would be that the successful bidder would ultimately reach out to us. I’m assuming all the entities that bid on this parcel are aware of all the discussions that are being had in Menlo Park at the moment,” Combs said.
Site eyed for housing
The property at 345 Middlefield was identified as an opportunity site in the city’s Housing Element, the city’s state-mandated housing plan, according to Combs. A Housing Element is a document that describes where the city has zoned for future housing and the number of possible homes that meet criteria set by the state for the new homes.
“Instead of trying to cram affordable housing into our downtown parking lots where it makes no sense, let’s approach Presidio Bay regarding putting this housing on the USGS campus. That will be a win-win,” Cherie Zaslawsky said in an email to the Menlo Park City Council.
They bid on downtown lots
Presidio Bay Ventures also submitted a proposal to Menlo Park to build public housing on the three downtown parking lots among six other developers.
It proposed to build 345 apartments in three to five story buildings.
The proposal includes 580 parking spaces with the possibility of a five-story stand-alone garage built along University Drive during the beginning of construction.
Residents and shop keepers in downtown Menlo Park have voiced opposition to the idea of housing on the lots, saying it will hurt business rather than help it.
Those in favor of the idea say housing on the lots will lead to more people shopping downtown.
Why USGS left
USGS slowly moved out of the campus to Moffett Field in Mountain View because the GSA raised the rent. The GSA is required to charge market-rate rents.
In 2016, USGS paid $8.2 million in rent for the Menlo Park campus.
The new rent from the GSA would have increased to $18.1 million a year.
The sale of the USGS property appeared to be fast-tracked after the Trump administration announced its intention to sell federal buildings, including two in San Francisco — the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building on 7th Street and the 50 United Nations Plaza building.
580 new cars commuting. This will be awful for traffic on Marsh Road, Embarcadero Road, Oregon Expressway.