FREMONT — A big Fremont office campus in an area that has beguiled investors and tech titans has been bought from a developer jailed for his role in a recent college admissions scandal.
Mega developers Trammell Crow and Lincoln Property have teamed up to buy two buildings in Fremont’s Ardenwood district for $85 million, according to documents filed on Nov. 23 with officials in Alameda County.
The seller was an affiliate controlled by Robert A. Flaxman, principal executive of Orange County-based Crown Realty & Development, official state government business records show.
In 2019, Flaxman was sentenced to a month in jail along with 250 hours of community service and a $50,000 fine for paying to help his daughter cheat on entrance tests as part of a wide-ranging college admissions scandal. Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were also jailed briefly for their roles in the scandal.
Trammell Crow and Lincoln Property, acting through affiliate Paseo Kaiser Office Owner, bought the buildings in an all-cash deal, the county records show.
One of the just-bought buildings is at 6900 Paseo Padre Parkway and the other is at 6801 Kaiser Drive in Fremont, according to county assessment documents.
Fremont’s Ardenwood neighborhood is an area that has landed several tech and life sciences companies, which in turn has triggered interest on the part of developers and real estate investors.
Meta Platforms, a tech titan whose apps include Facebook, is a tenant in at least 10 buildings next to or within a few blocks of the buildings that Trammell Crow and Lincoln Property bought.
As of the end of 2019, Facebook had rented at least 1.27 million square feet in the Fremont Ardenwood district. Most of that was leased from legendary developers Peery Arrillaga and Sobrato Organization.
Other tech companies in Ardenwood include Electronics for Imaging, HID Global and Kyocera SLD Laser.
Pharmaceutical or biotech firms such as Boehringer Ingelheim USA, Nueralink and Anaspec have leased offices close by.
The primary tenant in the just-purchased building is TE Connectivity, which provides high-tech connection and sensor devices for an array of industries.
Combined, the buildings that Lincoln Property and Trammell Crow bought total 185,700 square feet. The 6900 Paseo Padre building totals 97,700 square feet while the 6801 Kaiser offices total 88,000 square feet, according to the PropertyShark listing service.
The Ardenwood district of Fremont is deemed to be attractive because it’s near the tech hubs in Santa Clara County and San Mateo County as well as near the labor pools in the East Bay and South Bay.
Flaxman, the seller, appears to have harvested a hefty profit through the $85 million deal.
In mid-2021, the assessed value of the just-purchased Fremont site was $51.7 million. That means the purchase price was 64% higher than the property’s most recent estimated value.
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