If one day you pull back your curtains and see a sky full of flying taxis, there’s a chance that the aerial vehicles were the product of an industrial campus at 333-375 Encinal St. in Santa Cruz, California, that changed hands in a megadeal last year.
Joby Aviation, which was founded with seven engineers in 2009 by local Santa Cruz resident JoeBen Bevirt, needed a large space for its ongoing attempts to conquer the skies with electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
The company wished to remain close to its home base and to consolidate its multiple teams, encompassing over 1,000 engineers and other employees, into a single spot.
They found what they needed in a campus on the north side of town featuring all the requisite facilities plus a soccer field, garden, open spaces and solar production on site.
About the project: Joby Aviation purchased the 160,000-square-foot property comprising three buildings for nearly $25.3 million. The property had previously served as the headquarters of Plantronics, which changed its name to Polycom in 2019 and was later gobbled up by Hewlett-Packard in August 2021.
Joby Aviation has flown a long way since its days as a slender startup. It also operates facilities in San Carlos and Marina, California, and it has workplaces in Washington, D.C., and in Munich, Germany. Joby Aviation partners with such major entities as NASA, Toyota and Uber.
What the judges said: "The sale/acquisition solidifies Joby Aviation's presence in Santa Cruz County for many years to come and should be a catalyst for positive economic development in the Harvey West area," said Benjamin Ow, president of Ow Commercial.
They made it happen: Greg Matter and Derek Johnson with JLL represented the buyer. Cale Miller with Hughes Marino and Reuben Helick with Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller.
