Stockbridge Locks In Tech Tenant for Final Parcels at Bay Meadows in San Mateo, Calif.

Developers Stockbridge and Wilson Meany recently announced the signing of an undisclosed major technology tenant to the last two commercial parcels at the Bay Meadows development in San Mateo, Calif.

This deal caps a development plan spanning more than 20 years that has transformed what used to be the Bay Meadows thoroughbred horse track into one of the Bay Area’s most vibrant projects by bringing together homes, office, and retail.

Development plans for the 83-acre site include a total of seven buildings totaling more than 1 million square feet of class A San Mateo office space. Dubbed Bay Meadows Station, the project’s office component places tenants within easy reach of San Francisco and Silicon Valley via the CalTrain station that’s located just steps away.

“Bay Meadows has fulfilled the vision we had some 20-plus years ago,” said Chris Meany, managing partner of Wilson Meany. “This is a walkable, transit-oriented community with homes, parks, office space, restaurants, and retail. We believe it is a model for smart, responsible redevelopment.”

In addition to premium office space, the Bay Meadows development includes nearly 1,000 homes, 18 acres of park space, a private high school, and more than 40,000 square feet of retail.

“It’s terrific to see the transformation of Bay Meadows over these past two decades,” said Terry Fancher, chief executive officer of Stockbridge. “When we acquired the site, the horse-racing industry was in decline, and we knew people and companies would be excited to live and work in a community with easy access to the surrounding Bay Area.”

The race track, which closed in the early 2000s, was acquired by Stockbridge and Wilson Meany in 1997. The convenient proximity of the Caltrain rail line to the west and Highway 101 to the east was a significant element of the joint venture’s plans to redevelop the racetrack grounds into a new, mixed-use community that would serve the technology-heavy peninsula.

Asking rents in the wider Bay Area were the highest in the Western U.S. region in January, according to data we analyzed for our latest national office report. Leasing rates for office space in San Francisco averaged nearly $64 per square foot in the first month of the year, which was almost double the national average of $32.55. At the same time, Bay Area office space was the second-priciest in the region with average asking rates here slightly exceeding $53 per square foot.