The Hangzhou Silicon Valley Innovation Center now has an official home. The east Chinese city of Hangzhou, part of the Zhejiang province, announced earlier this year its intent to open up this center to foster deeper collaboration within Silicon Valley. This week, the city had completed the purchase of a roughly 110,000 square foot office building in San Jose for $41.5 million, or just over $377 per square foot that will be its new home. The building, located at 160 E. Tasman Drive in San Jose, is part of a two-building asset that was owned by Irvine-based LBA Realty, which had purchased the identical buildings in October of 2012 for a total of $91.5 million. LBA retained the building next door at 178 E. Tasman Drive.
The sale was first reported by the San Jose Mercury News.
The innovation center will serve a joint venture between Hangzhou’s Science and Technology Commission and the management committee of the Hangzhou Economic Development Zone, according to a statement by the parties. The center is planning to include five platforms, including a cross-border incubator for overseas high-caliber talent and projects, an intellectual property platform to serve international research teams, a platform for exchanges and cooperation between businesses and individuals and a financial center. The hope is for the innovation center to generate cooperation between the province and companies in the Bay Area by developing projects between Silicon Valley and Hangzhou. The center will also play an important role in promoting Hangzhou’s preferential policies and globalizing local companies, according to a statement.
