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Bidding has closed on the 17-acre United States Geological Survey (USGS) campus in Menlo Park without a buyer.
The USGS campus is owned by the General Services Administration (GSA), the government agency that serves as a property manager for federal office buildings. The GSA is gathering market research and will re-evaluate the sale’s terms, Andra Higgs, a Region 9 Public Affairs Officer, said in an email. The information is being gathered from interested parties, who include developers, investors, nonprofit organizations, corporations and individuals, according to Higgs.
The federal property at 345 Middlefield Road in the Linfield Oaks neighborhood, dubbed Rockaway Grove, is over 17 acres and includes many buildings and laboratories, as well as the GeoKids daycare. The minimum bid on the federal auction site was set at $120 million and required a $750,000 deposit in order to participate.
The USGS team has been gradually relocating from Menlo Park to Mountain View and plan to vacate the laboratories and offices by fall 2023 according to Jane Reid, deputy director of regions 8 and 10 which includes California. Moving the agency’s West Coast science center to the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field was framed as largely a financial decision when it was announced in 2016.
The GSA is obligated under federal law to charge market-rate rent for its properties, even in pricey locales such as the Bay Area. In 2016, annual rent for the campus was $7.5 million and was expected to go up significantly when the 10-year lease ended in late 2017.
When it changes hands to a private owner, it will be up to the Menlo Park City Council to decide what kind of redevelopment to allow at the site. In the council’s most recent discussions on the site in December, council members were considering designating portions of the site as a public middle school and as high-density housing. It’s currently zoned for public facilities.
The USGS campus is included in the city’s Housing Element plan as a potential development site, and Assistant Community Development Director Deanna Chow said that there have been inquiries to the city regarding the property.
More information on the sale will be posted online as information becomes available.
Editors note: This story was updated with information from Deputy Director Jane Reid
MPCSD and City of Menlo Park should buy it and build a 2nd middle school here. The majority of middle school students live east of El Camino Real and the Caltrain tracks. A 2nd school site here would create a shorter and safer commute to school.
Wish it was so simple, but someone (taxpayers) would need to pay for it, MPCSD nor our City does not have $120M sitting around. This is why the our elected council spoke about rezoning part of the parcel for a school, and not purchasing it through an auction. This is most likely the reason why it did not sell as purchaser would have limits placed on them by the council, such as land grabs for school(s), housing, subsidized housing (sorry, I mean below market rate), etc.
@ Samuel Y and New guy:
An anticipated problem with the USGS site is soil contamination. It would be up to USGS to do this remediation before the buyers buy. And I would expect potential buyers to ask for a geologists report (ironic, no?)
“Wish it was so simple, but someone (taxpayers) would need to pay for it, MPCSD nor our City does not have $120M sitting around.”
I agree that neither has the funding necessary to pull off purchasing that land. I’ll also add:
1: ‘our City’ (presumably Menlo Park) is in no way affiliated with MPCSD; they are completely separate government agencies; MP’s borders include 3 government agencies that are elementary school districts: Las Lomitas, MPCSD and Ravenswood (might actually be 4: there may be a small sliver of Redwood City SD for the apartments near the Porsche dealership). Menlo Park has no incentive or reason to purchase land for a separate government agency. It would be like Palo Alto buying land for Menlo Park to use, which is unlikely to ever happen.
2: The federal government is legally required to sell the land at market value, so there’s no way to get any kind of discount. Even if MPCSD tried Eminent Domain, MPCSD would need to pay market rate for the land.
3: Taxpayers are still paying for GO bonds on MPCSD schools right now. Buying that land would undoubtedly put a larger tax burden on taxpayers.