Meridian 25 - named for its 25 mile distance from San Jose and San Francisco - will be a 528,520 square foot Class A office complex on Industrial Road off Bransten. It will consist of two 6-story office buildings, and a 6-level (3 underground) parking structure with 1,510 parking spaces. The site will also include approximately 2-acres of landscaped area with 150 new trees.
The agreement between San Carlos and Windy Hill also includes $4 million that will go towards building a more pedestrian friendly route from Industrial to Old County. This, in conjunction with the development of the San Carlos Transit Village - a mixed use residential and commercial project that will be built around the train station - will help better connect San Carlos east of El Camino to the shopping and dining rich Laurel Street.
San Carlos is home to a relatively small supply of office space, which is a large part of the reason they have a hard time attracting and holding on to high profile tenants. Most notably, in 2009 they lost Tesla Motors to Palo Alto, due in part to their inability to accommodate the company's growth. However, the city's unanimous approval of the massive Meridian 25 development has likely already placed them on the radar of some big name tenants.
To get an idea of just how transformative Meridian 25 could prove to be for the City of Good Living, all you have to do is look to Redwood City, where their Crossing/900 development was eagerly snatched up for use as the new headquarters of Box Inc. Over the course of Thanksgiving weekend last year, the cloud file sharing company relocated nearly 1,000 employees from their old Silicon Valley headquarters to their new downtown Redwood City digs. This made Box downtown Redwood City's largest private employer, without including the additional 800 employees they intend to move in over the next couple of years.
Meridian 25 will dwarf Crossing/900 - exceeding it in size by nearly 200,000 square feet. It will also possess just as much, if not more commuter appeal as Crossing/900, due to its proximity to Highway 101 and the San Carlos train station (soon to be the San Carlos Transit Village). The convenience for commuters plays a significant role in attracting large companies, in particular large tech companies, as they typically have a sizable chunk of their workforce commuting from San Francisco. The shorter commutes and the cheaper rent are why many tech companies are beginning to favor Peninsula office space over the South Bay.
For now it's all speculation as to who might move in, but with city approval of the project, its listing agents can begin to market it aggressively to prospective tenants. It's possible that it will get leased out in chunks to smaller companies, but it's also possible we see another big tech player like Box step in and grab the bulk of the available office space. Either way, it will be interesting to watch all of this unfold in a city that has been historically resistant to change and development.
Stay tuned!
