Costco buys office and research building near San Jose warehouse store

SAN JOSE Costco Wholesale has bought an office and research building in San Jose in a deal that could enable the discount retail titan to build a new fuel station near its existing warehouse store The retailing giant paid million for a building at Automation Parkway in north San Jose according to documents filed on June with the Santa Clara County Recorder s Office Related Articles East Bay retail mall lands buyer in million-plus property deal Apple buys big office hub in Cupertino in deal that tops million Developer buys Saratoga vineyard where it plans hundreds of homes San Jose mayor hopes Earthquakes will move downtown if soccer squad is sold Real estate empire crumbles as choice San Jose site faces foreclosure The property is across the street from a Costco store at Automation Parkway Costco has been in expansion mode in the Bay Area s largest city in new years including the addition of a Costco business center store in east San Jose and a warehouse store in south San Jose The seller of the property was a business entity operating as Nautilus Global Commercial Real Estate the county files show Costco bought the building through an all-cash deal according to the real estate records The building totals square feet according to a marketing brochure for the property that Colliers a commercial real estate firm has been circulating Colliers brokers John Kolyar Kyle Portal and Brett Taylor arranged the real estate deal on behalf of the property s seller The offering price was million In January the building s assessed value was slightly below million This suggests that Costco bought the building at a discounted price However it s feasible that the acres of land beneath the building is what has caught Costco s eye in a big way The building might wind up being bulldozed to clear the way for a future Costco fuel facility Separately in late May Costco filed an application with San Jose planners Costco proposed the rise of a new fueling station on the site of the office and research building The project will relocate the existing Costco Gasoline facility located at the address above to the developed parcel across Automation Parkway presently occupied by a commercial office building Barghausen Consulting Engineers stated in the filing with the city of San Jose The project will include a canopy totaling square feet The site will accommodate new fuel dispensers and four underground storage tanks each capable of holding gallons The new gasoline station will include a -gallon fuel additive tank according to the expansion proposal The existing fuel facility will be razed and removed from the site and the existing -square-foot commercial building will be demolished the Costco representative stated in the filing The existing underground storage tanks and piping will be decommissioned and removed by state-certified contractors Once the former fuel facility is removed Costco will pave over that site and create additional surface parking for customers The project will add parking spaces for a new total of parking spots the project files state The intent of the relocation is to install a new state-of-the-art facility to provide a more efficient fuel purchasing experience for Costco members Costco s representative stated in the planning documents