Gate 510
Built in the 1940’s as an 18-acre Plymouth/Dodge automotive plant, this half-million square foot, two-story automotive plant located at 1933 Davis Street, San Leandro, CA has grown to over 1 million square feet of innovation space for biotech and technology scientists, entrepreneurs, makers, creators and visionaries to collaborate, create, invest and work.
Synopsis - Gate510
February 2013 – April 2018
Westgate Center, San Leandro, CA 94579
Client:
Key Stakeholders:
City of San Leandro: Office of Innovation, Community & Development Dept.
UIXGlobal: Innovation Collaborator, New Horizons Innovation Café at The Gate
San Leandro Business and Community Members
Product:
Transformation of 2nd floor above retail, half million sq.ft. of former Dodge/Chrysler manufacturing plant into a tech and innovation hub for the City of San Leandro, supported by Lit San Leandro’s gigabit fiber network.
Gate510 is now an innovative tech and biotech campus for scientists, entrepreneurs, makers, and visionaries to collaborate, create, invest, and work.
HISTORY
Following the closure of the automotive plant in the late 1950s, the building became the headquarters and manufacturing plant for Caterpillar tractors. Ownership again changed hands in the late 1970s, purchased by Portland real estate development firm SKB. The company redesigned the building, developing ground floor retail and flexible R&D/manufacturing/office space on its upper floor.
By early 2010, the upper level was showing its age. While retail continued to thrive on the ground level, the upper floor was barely one-third leased, mostly to companies warehousing including antique furniture and comic books.
Outcomes:
Transformation of 400K+ leasable space from storage to tech and biotech companies; lease rates increased from $0.50-$1.00 psf to over $4.50 psf today.
$87 million: SKB unable to find buyer for a decade until purchased by ShopCore Properties, a subsidiary of Blackstone, in 2018.
Shopcore subsequently expanded its investment into two adjacent industrial buildings, adding 500K sf of new R&D and brewery space to Gate510.
Direct financial benefits to City: over 1MM sf of underutilized real estate transitioned to IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things) companies that “make things”. The over 100 companies located at Gate510 include energy, robotics, advanced manufacturing, biotech R&D, food technology, green and other technology sectors. As an innovation hub focused on making actual products, B2B transactions increased between existing San Leandro factories and Gate510 tenants – a cost and time-effective alternative to Asian outsourcing.
Indirect benefits to City: Increased media-presence as a “City of Innovation”. Stories of San Leandro’s tech transition was featured across the media spectrum, from the Wall Street Journal to the San Francisco Business Times to GovTech.com.
CIO Acosta Role:
As Chief Innovation Officer: Leverage Lit San Leandro’s fiber optic infrastructure to develop economic development opportunities in collaboration with Westgate Management (SKB).
Ms. Acosta worked to develop, inspire, and see to execution a 2nd floor, Westgate Shopping Center strategic transformation plan. Work included identifying stakeholders; creating an environment that attracted innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors into the Gate510/San Leandro ecosystem; and championing the vision that attracted the public-private partnerships needed to execute.
A central element of Ms. Acosta’s success was her ability to identify and develop key stakeholder relationships (both professional and community based) that both could and would agree to influence the resources needed to bring about the desired change.
A pivotal contributor to this project’s success was Greg Delaune, CEO of UIXGlobal, whose expertise in identifying, developing, and riding transformational waves (and having fun!) was key to re-branding San Leandro, City of Innovation.
“It was my pleasure to show Whip Hoyer how the East Bay is leading the way in innovation and advanced manufacturing,” Congresswoman Lee said. “American manufacturing is growing in the East Bay and across the country. The GATE and other East Bay manufacturers are proof that when companies Make It In America, working families Make It In America thanks to good-paying manufacturing jobs. In Washington, I will continue to push Congress to pass the Make It In America plan so there are more American manufacturers and more good-paying American manufacturing jobs.”
- Congresswoman Barbara Lee, October 9, 2014
