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Silicon Valley developers bet big on return to offices

They are planning on companies bringing people back into offices, to an area that is not overrun by big tech

Published Mon, Jun 29, 2020 · 09:50 PM

San Francisco

AS THE coronavirus re-shapes urban life - and prompts businesses to rethink where they want to be - a pair of California real estate investors are pushing what might seem like an unlikely vision for the future.

Their idea is to turn San Jose, San Francisco's ho-hum suburban neighbour in the heart of Silicon Valley, into a denser, more citified place.

It might sound like a reach in the middle of a pandemic. But they are betting that Bay Area companies that have let employees scatter will eventually want to bring people back into offices, to the one part of the region that has not been overrun by big tech.

"My belief is that we'll have tenants lining up," said Gary Dillabough, who with his partner Jeff Arrillaga has spent more than US$300 million buying properties in the city over …