Yahoo vacates 400,000 sf

Yahoo plans to vacate 400,00 sf of Class A Santa Clara office space. The asking rate is $1/sf and term is through July of 2010. While the rate is adjusted for a short term, to provide some context the average Class A asking rent in Santa Clara Q4 2008 was $3.21/sf. Since real estate decisions lag behind layoffs and general economic malaise, expect this trend to continue. See below article for more information.

Yahoo Vacating 400,000 sf in Santa Clara

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal – by Katherine Conrad

Yahoo Inc. is vacating almost 400,000 square feet in two shiny eight-story towers visible from U.S. Highway 101 in Santa Clara.

The troubled search engine company is offering the prime Class A space on Mission College Boulevard to the market for a paltry $1 a square foot.

“These buildings are as good as it gets,” said Mike Field, director of real estate for the Sobrato Organization, which owns the two structures built in 2000.

“This is plug and play,” he added, using the real estate term for move-in ready.

Yahoo plans to vacate by May. Because the remaining time left on the lease is so short – it expires in July 2010 – Field said the Sobrato Organization will be involved in negotiations with a new tenant.

The addresses of the buildings hitting the market are 2811 Mission College Blvd., a 200,500-square-foot building, and 2821 Mission College, a 184,000-square-foot building, and they include a cafeteria and gym.

Field said Yahoo plans to consolidate in the remaining buildings in Santa Clara, also owned by Sobrato, and in their Sunnyvale campus, which the company owns.

Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The company on Tuesday reported a $303 million, or 22 cent per-share fourth quarter loss, compared to net income of $206 million, or 15 cents a share in the same period last year.

Yahoo had $1.8 billion in revenue, down slightly from the year-ago quarter’s $1.83 billion.

Analysts expected, on average, earnings of 13 cents a share on $1.37 billion in revenue.

The quarter was former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang’s last full reporting period. Carol Bartz, the former CEO of San Rafael-based Autodesk Inc., was named CEO earlier this month.

Katherine Conrad can be reached at 408.299.1820 or kconrad@bizjournals.com.