Despite not advancing in the race for California governor, Tom Steyer isn’t done making moves in the Golden State — with the real estate arm of his investment firm making its first acquisition in the state with an industrial campus buy in Silicon Valley.
Galvanize Real Estate bought Cadillac Court, a four-building industrial complex in Milpitas for $94 million, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The seller was DRA Advisors, which acquired the buildings at 901, 1001, 1123 and 1151 Cadillac Court from Blackstone in 2024 for $75 million. Newmark represented the seller in the deal.
The property spans 302,450 square feet and is about 95 percent leased with tenants such as Sunrun and KZ Kitchen Cabinet & Store.
The acquisition marks Galvanize’s first California deal and comes as manufacturers supplying data centers race to expand production. But finding industrial space with enough electrical capacity to support that growth is becoming a problem.
Galvanize plans to increase Cadillac Court’s power capacity while improving energy efficiency with solar generation and battery storage. The strategy fits a broader shift among investors toward industrial properties where substantial power infrastructure is already in place.
“We plan to enhance the portfolio’s efficiency while investing to meet the growing industrial demand in Milpitas,” Joseph Sumberg, head of Galvanize Real Estate, said. “As advanced manufacturing expands and energy costs rise, we expect these initiatives to benefit the local grid and attract high-quality tenants looking for reliable energy and price certainty.”
CBRE’s Colin Yasukochi said investors are increasingly building real estate strategies around acquiring sites with high existing power capacity for future use or redevelopment.
Leasing activity is picking up alongside the power crunch. Industrial leasing in Silicon Valley rose about 60 percent from the first quarter and 55 percent from a year earlier, while the market recorded 1.4 million square feet of net absorption through the first half of the year, according to Newmark.
Steyer, a 2020 presidential candidate and former California gubernatorial hopeful, co-founded Galvanize Climate Solutions in 2021 with business partner Katie Hall. It launched its Galvanize Real Estate platform in 2023 and made its first property acquisition the following year in Maryland.
— Chris Malone Méndez
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