Texas-based mega-developer Trammell Crow Company has purchased another site in Morgan Hill with plans to build 440,000 square feet of industrial space on the property.
The 24-acre, undeveloped property is located at Butterfield and Sutter boulevards. Trammell Crow is planning to build five “Class A” industrial buildings on a speculative basis at the site, according to a press release from the company.
The property—which is located in the Morgan Hill Ranch Business Park—is zoned light industrial, and Trammell Crow plans to keep it that way. The site is “fully entitled” and Trammel Crow intends to develop a project that is consistent with an earlier development agreement with a previous owner.
“The demand for new, Class A light industrial space in Santa Clara County continues to be robust, even in the current economy,” said Don Little, Senior Vice President of Trammell Crow’s Northern California Business Unit. “Similar to our Morgan Hill Technology Center project that we plan to build at Highway 101 and Cochrane Road, this investment in the Morgan Hill community will generate local jobs and needed tax revenue.”
The Butterfield Boulevard property is the second land parcel that Trammell Crow has purchased in Morgan Hill in less than two years. In 2019, the company purchased 60 acres on Cochrane Road, adjacent to the U.S. 101 freeway. The company plans to build six industrial and manufacturing buildings—ranging in size from 79,900 to 219,600 square feet—on that site, also on a speculative basis.
The Cochrane Road project—known as Morgan Hill Technology Center—recently underwent an environmental study. The public comment period on a draft Environmental Impact Report ended in July, and city planners will discuss the findings at public meetings in the coming months.
At the 24-acre Butterfield Boulevard site, the City of Morgan Hill approved a development agreement with the previous owner, Mwest, in 2017. The vacant site was the subject of an EIR in 1981, and a follow-up initial study in 2000, according to the existing development agreement.
Mwest had planned to build up to 600,000 square feet of new industrial space at the property, according to the development agreement. That company’s plans also included a public park, landscaping, parking, streets and related infrastructure.
Trammell Crow is planning to submit a detailed development application for the Butterfield site in the third quarter of this year.
“This project is a testament to the value of a high-quality development partner in TCC. It was sourced, processed and closed with actionable financing all post-COVID,” said Jerome Nichols, Deputy Portfolio Manager for the CBRE U.S. Development Partners fund series.
Trammell Crow is a division of CBRE, one of the world’s largest commercial real estate and investment firms.
“The Morgan Hill Ranch site is the final commitment in one of CBRE Global Investor’s development funds,” said Robert Jue, Head of Development for CBRE Global Investors Americas. “The fund series has made 50 investments over the past 10 years. Our fund team is actively thinking about our next steps when it comes to investment in various development opportunities as we approach the next economic cycle.”
