By Nancy Amdur
Mountain View-based LinkedIn Corp. looks to expand its Sunnyvale presence with plans for a four-story office building at 845 W. Maude Ave.
The City of Sunnyvale recently approved an application from Palo Alto-based developer Peery-Arrillaga to replace an existing one-story industrial building on the site with an approximately 40,000-square-foot office building along with a two-story, 144-space parking garage.
LinkedIn’s Wizardly Holdings, LLC purchased the 1.66-acre site in July 2015 from J&K Endeavors, LLC, according to public records. This property will join the professional-networking company’s other offices nearby, including the roughly 125,000-square-foot 580 N. Mary Ave.
“We’re very excited to expand our presence in Sunnyvale and to have a larger role in the community,” said Jim Morgensen, head of workplace at LinkedIn, in an e-mailed statement.
A timeline for construction of the new Maude Avenue building is not yet set.
“We don’t have a definitive construction schedule, yet. The intent is to start when reasonably possible,” he said.
A building permit application is being processed for the project, according to Noren Caliva-Lepe, associate planner for the city.
The property is within the city’s Peery Park area, and the new 39,233-square-foot building will feature the “same theme that carries out to different properties” in the business park, said Huiwen Hsiao, a principal at Union City-based ArchiRender Architects, which is designing the project.
Plans call for the contemporary office building to feature a curved façade with a vertical corner and cascading terraces on the south side. Building materials will include glass and concrete with colors of blue, beige, gray and white, Hsiao said at the Sunnyvale City Council meeting in February. Five mature redwood trees on the site fronting Maude Avenue will remain, and the building’s tinted glass will capture the trees’ reflection, he said. The garage will include a rooftop recreation area.
Hsiao described the newer Maude Avenue buildings with curved façades as being shaped like a series of “jumping musical notes” to create visual interest on the street.
The development “fits the land and fits the surrounding architecture very nicely,” said Councilmember Tara Martin-Milius. “I support the whole thing.”
ArchiRender also has worked on other Peery-Arrillaga projects in the area, including the LinkedIn office at 580 N. Mary and 309 N. Pastoria Ave., occupied by Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Inc. Additionally, the architecture firm designed the developer’s new 52,394-square-foot, four-story office building at 479 N. Pastoria Ave., and three-story office project at 815 W. Maude Ave., Hsiao said. Peery-Arrillaga declined to comment on the 845 W. Maude project.
The City of Sunnyvale is looking to redevelop aging underutilized properties within the 407-acre Peery Park business district to provide new Class A commercial space for technology-based business development along with some mixed commercial and residential uses along San Aleso Avenue on the east side of Mathilda Avenue, according to the city’s specific plan project description.
Peery Park, a light industrial area largely built out in the 1960s and ’70s, is roughly bounded by Highway 101 on the north, the railroad on the south, the city of Mountain View on the west and Mathilda Avenue on the east. The city expects to adopt a specific plan for Peery Park this summer.
