Selected Experience

01

Coyote Valley Energy Project

Strategic Campaign to Stop an Inappropriate Energy Project

Challenge

AES was advancing a large-scale energy project in Coyote Valley, an area with significant conservation, agricultural, groundwater and open-space value. The project presented a challenge that could not be addressed through a single regulatory process. It required a coordinated strategy across regulatory, local government, investor and energy-market channels.

Silicon Valley Synergy’s Role

Silicon Valley Synergy worked as part of an energy team supporting the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. SVS helped develop and execute the broader strategy for opposing the project, with a focus on identifying pressure points outside the traditional land-use process and making clear that the proposed Coyote Valley location was unsuitable.

Strategy

SVS developed a multi-front strategy designed to increase the risks of continuing to pursue the project. That included regulatory and local-government engagement, outreach to potential power purchasers, and engagement with financial stakeholders.

As part of that strategy, SVS identified an opportunity to engage CalPERS while it was conducting due diligence related to an acquisition involving AES, encouraging CalPERS to raise concerns directly with AES about the suitability of the Coyote Valley site.

SVS also drafted the letter ultimately signed by the Open Space Authority and sent to potential power purchasers, urging them not to enter into power-purchase arrangements tied to the proposed Coyote Valley project. The objective was to demonstrate that the project’s challenges extended beyond permitting and could affect its commercial viability.

Result

AES ultimately discontinued its pursuit of the Coyote Valley project. The effort demonstrated how a coordinated strategy involving regulators, local government, conservation interests, investors and potential customers can change the risk profile of a proposed development and help protect a sensitive landscape.

02

650 East Santa Clara Street

Turning a Stalled Development into an Entitled Project

Challenge

A proposed mixed-use development on East Santa Clara Street had stalled amid neighborhood concerns and a difficult entitlement process. The unresolved issues were preventing the property owner from moving the project forward.

Silicon Valley Synergy’s Role

Silicon Valley Synergy was retained to help get the project back on track. SVS worked with the property owner, project consultants, City representatives and surrounding community to understand the concerns, identify areas where compromise was possible and rebuild support for the project.

Approach

SVS helped coordinate the entitlement strategy, worked with the environmental team, engaged neighboring property owners and community members, facilitated communication with elected officials and helped the project team respond to issues raised during the approval process. The engagement was specifically structured around obtaining the entitlement.

Result

The project moved from a stalled entitlement to an approved mixed-use development. The approved project includes 50 homes, retail and office space in an approximately 87,750-square-foot building on East Santa Clara Street.

Value Created

Securing the entitlement transformed the property from a site with an uncertain development path into an entitled development opportunity, substantially improving the owner’s ability to develop, finance or sell the property.

03

40517 Albrae Street, Fremont

Determining the Highest and Best Use for a Long-Vacant Development Site

Challenge

A 22-acre Fremont property had remained largely vacant for approximately 15 years while designated for a major retail development. With an industrial developer interested in the property, the City needed an independent assessment of whether retaining the retail vision made economic sense or whether an industrial use offered a stronger long-term outcome.

Silicon Valley Synergy’s Role

Working with Cushman & Wakefield, Silicon Valley Synergy evaluated the site’s real estate economics, development feasibility, retail and industrial market conditions, employment impacts and fiscal benefits to the City of Fremont.

Analysis

The study compared the economics of maintaining the site’s regional retail designation against allowing industrial and advanced-manufacturing development. The analysis found weak market support for a large-scale retail project while industrial demand was significantly stronger. At the time of the study, Fremont’s industrial vacancy rate was approximately 3.4%, while demand for industrial and advanced-manufacturing space substantially exceeded available supply.

Recommendation

Silicon Valley Synergy concluded that industrial development represented the stronger and more financially sustainable use of the property. The report found that continuing to pursue retail carried substantial market risk after more than a decade without successful development.

Result

The proposed industrial project contemplated approximately 395,000 square feet of development, roughly 395 jobs, infrastructure improvements and an estimated $5.36 million in direct fiscal value to Fremont.

04

Alquist Building Site, Downtown San José

Evaluating a State Property for Housing, Office and Mixed-Use Development

Challenge

The State of California owned a strategically located property immediately adjacent to San José State University. At the same time, SJSU faced significant workforce-housing, student-housing and space constraints. The question was whether the property could support a more intensive mixed-use development and create value for both the State and the University.

Silicon Valley Synergy’s Role

Silicon Valley Synergy prepared a feasibility analysis of the Alquist property, evaluating its development potential, physical constraints, transit access, surrounding land uses, housing needs, office requirements and potential for a public-private partnership.

Analysis

SVS analyzed the approximately 1.62-acre State-owned property, including parcel configuration, grading, adjoining uses, utilities, transit access, proximity to employment and education, and the potential to combine the site with an adjacent City-owned property to create an approximately 2.47-acre development opportunity.

The analysis also identified the site’s exceptional transit location, including light rail and multiple bus routes within roughly 170 feet, as well as its proximity to the future BART station and Diridon Station.

Development Opportunity

The feasibility work contemplated multiple residential towers, approximately 200,000 square feet of office space and approximately 60,000 square feet of retail, with different development scenarios depending on whether the adjacent parking garage was incorporated.

SVS also prepared preliminary development economics. One office/retail scenario estimated approximately $162 million in development costs and produced positive projected cash flow under the assumptions used in the analysis.

Result

The analysis demonstrated that the property had significant redevelopment potential and provided an early feasibility framework that could be carried forward into later-stage analysis and planning.

05

City of Redwood City

Municipal Real Estate Advisory Services

Challenge

Redwood City needed outside real estate expertise to evaluate a range of City-owned properties, acquisition opportunities, public rights-of-way and other real estate interests. The assignments required practical analysis of property condition, title, environmental issues, potential future uses and transaction strategy.

Silicon Valley Synergy’s Role

Silicon Valley Synergy served as a real estate advisor to the City, providing due diligence, property analysis, transaction support and strategic recommendations across multiple assignments.

Representative Work

SVS reviewed acquisition due diligence for the YMCA property at 1445 Hudson Street, including title, survey and related property information. Following the review, the City accepted the due diligence materials and removed the acquisition contingencies.

SVS also evaluated property near the Granite Rock industrial site at 1402 Maple Street as Redwood City considered whether the area could be suitable for future park use. The work included reviewing existing environmental information and helping identify the additional analysis needed to understand potential risks associated with converting industrial land to a public park use.

Additional assignments included analysis of City-owned public rights-of-way and other real estate interests, as well as assistance with telecommunications and cell-tower negotiations.

Result

Silicon Valley Synergy provided Redwood City with an experienced outside real estate resource that could evaluate individual properties, identify risks and opportunities, and help City staff make informed decisions about acquisitions, potential public uses, leases and other real estate matters.