Bidding has closed on the former United States Geological Survey (USGS) campus in Menlo Park.
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 will be vacating the laboratories six months after vacating the offices. 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 USGS campus is owned by the General Services Administration, the government agency that serves as a property manager for federal office buildings. 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 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.
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.
As of The Almanac’s press deadline on Wednesday, Aug. 30, no information was released on the winning bidder on the Federal Auction site.
Email Staff Writer Cameron Rebosio at crebosio@almanacnews.com.
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