For about six decades starting in the early 1950s, the United States government ran one of the most important centers in the world for earthquake research out of a wooded complex in the Silicon Valley town of Menlo Park.
The town became home to the world headquarters of Facebook parent Meta and other big tech names. A decade ago, the property's landlord, another federal department known as the General Services Administration, started raising the rent, which eventually led to the departure of the U.S. Geological Survey after more than 60 years at 345 Middlefield Road. When the property hit the market last year, it was mostly vacant.
Last summer, San Francisco-based Presidio Bay Ventures purchased the 17-acre government-owned property for $137 million in one of the biggest land deals in the region in years. That gleaned the deal a 2026 CoStar Impact Award for sale/acquisition of the year in San Francisco, as judged by a panel of real estate professionals.
The company plans to transform the 412,663-square-foot former government office complex into hundreds of homes, new offices, shops and public parks.
It calls for tearing down all but one of 17 structures to make way for three apartment buildings with 670 units; 740,000 square feet of office space; 40,000 square feet of retail; and a 15,000-square-foot child care facility. Three acres will be reserved for public open space. At the corner of the public lawn, the developer plans a two-story building, The Pavilion, to host community events.
The project is the latest attempt by developers in the post-pandemic era to repurpose an underutilized Bay Area office site. Since COVID-19 and remote work shrank office demand, redevelopments have learned a lesson and shifted toward mixed-use destinations that are less reliant on any one type of building and therefore more resilient to economic shocks.
About the project: The Trump administration tasked the GSA with selling off government buildings and canceling leases under a sweeping cost-cutting effort, and the buyer of the Menlo Park campus was announced during a sealed bid auction. The project aims to transform an underutilized federal asset into a vibrant, economically sustainable community with a diverse mix of tenants.
What the judges said: Broker Michael Sanberg of Touchstone Commercial Partners called the deal an "amazing redevelopment opportunity that will create a new neighborhood."
They made it happen: The deal was spearheaded by Presidio Bay co-leads John Meany and Tucker Marshall along with Kabir Seth, K. Cyrus Sanandaji, Matthew Bergland and Charles Daly.