Amazon-linked developer eyes big revamp of old Fremont tech campus

A veteran Texas real estate developer with links to Amazon is eyeing a wide-ranging redevelopment of an aging tech campus in Fremont, city documents show.

Hines, one of the nation's biggest real estate developers, has proposed the replacement of a tech complex on Milmont Drive between Dixon Land Road and Kato Road, according to records on file with Fremont city officials.

A modern industrial center would sprout in place of the aging tech buildings on Milmont Drive in Fremont, the city Planning Department documents show.

In April 2021, Hines bought the existing three-building Dixon Landing Research Park, which has addresses of 49000, 49036, and 49086 Milmont Drive, according to property records on file with the Alameda County Recorder's Office.

Hines paid $47 million for the three-building complex, the county documents show.

The buildings total a combined 209,300 square feet, according to a brochure circulated by Lee & Associates, a commercial real estate firm that was marketing the complex at the time of the property purchase.

The property is near Interstate 880 and is a few freeway exits from the vast Tesla Motors vehicle factory in Fremont.

Hines intends to demolish the three existing buildings on the site and replace them with a brand-new structure.

The new industrial building, if the city approves the project and Hines builds it, would total 265,600 square feet, the Fremont city records show.

The finished project would be a building shell.

In February of this year, Hines leased to Amazon a huge data center in Hayward that totals 278,500 square feet.

Hines in recent years has been an active player in Bay Area commercial real estate.

The Hines real estate firm has plunked down well over $1 billion to buy an array of office and research buildings in the Bay Area.

These are among the properties that Hines has purchased in recent years.

• A huge data center on a prime site at 150 S. First St. in downtown San Jose, $59.6 million, December 2021.
• The PG&E headquarters complex in San Francisco, $800 million, 2021.
• Dublin Corporate Center in Dublin, $108.9 million.
• Santa Clara Towers in Santa Clara, $195 million.
• Santa Clara tech and research center on Bassett Street, $107.1 million.
• Santa Clara office building with Apple as a tenant on Patrick Henry Drive, $68 million.

In recent years, uncertainties have arisen over the future use of office space due to the outbreak of the coronavirus and a fuzzy picture for brick-and-mortar retail resulting from a shift to online shopping.

As a result, property owners and developers have scouted for redevelopment opportunities at an array of sites.

Tech-oriented manufacturing, life science, biotech and laboratory projects have become popular replacements for numerous commercial buildings and sites ink the Bay Area.