Kaiser, Oracle cut property deal in Pleasanton

Kaiser Permanente and Oracle Corp. have fashioned a complex property transaction in the Hacienda Business Park that could bolster the economic and job base of the Tri-Valley.

Kaiser has bought three buildings from Oracle in Pleasanton that the software giant now occupies, according to public records in Alameda County. Oakland-based Kaiser has agreed to rent the buildings to Oracle so the Silicon Valley company can continue to occupy them.

Separately, Oracle is moving forward with a city permit that would enable the tech firm to build a new office building across the street from the ones Oracle sold to Kaiser in late December.

So what do all these maneuvers and deals mean? Kaiser is poised to significantly expand its operations and employment levels in Pleasanton. Oracle appears to be amenable to planting major roots in the East Bay city -- if the Redwood City-based company constructs the new building and occupies it.

"We're very happy to know that Kaiser has made a permanent home in Pleasanton and that Oracle will continue its commitment to our community," said Pamela Ott, the city's economic development director.

Oracle and Kaiser wouldn't discuss the deals. The price was not disclosed for the buildings. Here are the highlights of the various transactions:

# Kaiser bought from Oracle two office buildings, each totaling 186,000 square feet, and a data center. These three buildings are on the south side of Owens Drive near the Pleasanton-Dublin BART station.

# Oracle remains in the three buildings under a rental agreement with Kaiser.

# Oracle is going through the city's approval process to construct a new 186,000-square-foot building that is next to and will be identical to an existing building that Oracle owns and occupies. The site of these buildings is the north side of Owens Drive near Hacienda Drive.

If Oracle ultimately decides to move into the new building, the upshot would be hundreds of new jobs for Pleasanton.

"Kaiser continues to grow in this area, and we don't think they are done with the Tri-Valley," said Brian Lagomarsino, a broker with Colliers International, a commercial realty firm.

Both of the office buildings that Kaiser bought from Oracle can accommodate about 600 employees, which means Kaiser could conceivably move 1,200 workers into the two buildings.

"It's a good sign for Pleasanton, long term," Lagomarsino said.

The transactions are not the first time that office buildings in Pleasanton have changed hands between Oracle and Kaiser. In 2005, Oracle sold Kaiser four office buildings a short distance away near the corner of Baker Drive and Owens. These four buildings are occupied primarily by Kaiser information technology workers.

The latest deals mark the second purchase of Tri-Valley office buildings by a high-profile corporate user in recent weeks.

In December, Fremont-based semiconductor equipment maker Lam Research Corp. paid $36 million for a two-building complex in Livermore. The seller was another chip equipment maker, San Jose-based KLA Tencor Corp.

"You have two brand-new corporate users coming into the marketplace," said Jim Peterson, a senior vice president with Cornish & Carey Commercial.

Although it's expected to take two or three years for Oracle to move into its new building, city officials say these kinds of expansions are a welcome reversal of the misfortunes the Tri-Valley suffered after Oracle's purchase of PeopleSoft Inc.

Other companies, such as Kaiser, State Compensation Insurance Fund and Lam, have materialized to pick up the slack.

"PeopleSoft was a hometown company, and nobody in town wanted them to go away," Ott said. "Some of the concerns that were expressed when Oracle took over have abated over time. These deals are exciting for the city of Pleasanton and will help the city maintain its economic vitality."

Author: George Avalos @ www.contracostatimes.com