$2 billion innovation hub is eyed at NASA Ames Silicon Valley complex

By Chinua Achebe On Oct 17, 2023

MOUNTAIN VIEW — A major $2 billion innovation hub is being eyed for development at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View in an effort designed to create a birthplace for cutting-edge technologies.

UC Berkeley and SKS Partners, a San Francisco-based commercial developer, have teamed up to create what’s being called the Berkeley Space Center at NASA Research Park, officials said Monday.

“California’s innovation and drive is not limited to Earth,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday in a statement.

Trellis area of Berkeley Space Center at NASA Research Park, located in Mountain View, night-time, concept. Hangar One is visible on the left. (HOK/Field Operations)

Backers of the ambitious endeavor expect the 36-acre center to develop and create technologies in a wide array of fields. It is expected to include 1.5 million square feet of first-class offices and research spaces.

“The joint venture is dedicated to identifying, incubating and launching technological breakthroughs across a diverse set of fields including astronautics, quantum computing, climate studies and the social sciences,” UC Berkeley and SKS Partners stated in a news release on Monday.

Berkeley Space Center at NASA Research Park, located in Mountain View, showing office buildings and open spaces, concept. (HOK/Field Operations)

“Everybody wins with this,” said Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a San Jose-based think tank. “It’s great for the communities in the area, it’s great for NASA and it’s certainly great for the university.”

Housing, open spaces, wet and dry labs, conference rooms, academic facilities and retail amenities are also expected to be part of the project.

“This planned expansion of Berkeley’s physical footprint and academic reach represents a fantastic and unprecedented opportunity for our students, faculty and the public we serve,” UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said.

The project site, a roughly triangular shape at the corner of Westcoat and Cody roads, would be located across the street from Hangar One, Moffett Federal Airfield and Moffett Field Historical Society Museum, according to a review of Google Maps.

“For NASA, this partnership has the potential to advance world-class research in aviation and space, thus helping improve life here on Earth,” said Eugene Tu, the center director of the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Mountain View.

CBRE, a commercial real estate company, has landed the assignment of finding tenants for the innovation hub, which “will play a key role in advancing innovation, offering Silicon Valley’s top companies and world-class educational institutions a hub for discovery and transformation,” said Ben Knight, a CBRE executive vice president.

The innovation hub has direct access to world-renowned tech leaders such as NASA, Google and Microsoft, along with other top Silicon Valley research and educational institutions.

“A lot of the work that is going on in quantum computing, a lot of the work on autonomous flying and driving vehicles, a lot of the advanced work in aerospace, is happening in Silicon Valley,” said Rob Enderle, an Oregon-based tech analyst.

The proposed development also could intensify interest in developing properties at Moffett Federal Airfield and the NASA Ames area.

“Moffett is really underutilized,” Hancock said. “Google is in the area, but Moffett largely sits there under-developed. It could be used for housing. It could be used for these kinds of commercial enterprises, incubators, labs and research centers. There is no better place to do something like this. For crying out loud, we should be using NASA and Moffett Field in this way.”

In 2022, Google opened its huge Bay View campus on land that the tech titan leased from NASA. That same year, Google began work in earnest on the structure of Hangar One, a historic landmark that is perched at one of the gateways of the proposed center.

“Berkeley Space Center is going to be big for Google and Google will be a big benefit for this space center,” Enderle said. “Given the proximity, this should be very beneficial for Google.

Construction is slated to begin in 2026. CBRE brokers, however, are already poised to begin negotiations with tenants that seek custom-tailored office or research spaces, the real estate firm said.

“This is a prime location and a prime time for this public university,” Chancellor Christ said.

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