The S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation partnered with the JCC to purchase the property.
The JCF-JCC partnership hopes to create a Jewish campus on the 12-acre parcel of land, about the size of Pacific Bell Park, to house a number of Jewish institutions. A 250,000-square-foot building, which may be able to meet many of the JCF and JCC’s needs, currently sits on the site.
While the federation’s board green-lighted the bid in late September, JCF officials declined to reveal the amount of the partnership’s actual offer, and will not until the deal is officially closed, probably in January. A contract of purchase for the huge tract of land was officially signed on Thursday afternoon.
The Sun Microsystems site is at 901 San Antonio Road at the corner of East Charleston near Highway 101, in southeastern Palo Alto adjacent to Mountain View. JCF President John Goldman called it “the largest contiguous site of that size left in Palo Alto.”
The hardware, software and networking giant put its Palo Alto campus on the market following the recent completion of its Santa Clara campus.
Carol Saal, president of the JCC, is optimistic that a JCF-JCC campus would be ready for use in about five years.
In addition to the JCC, currently named the Albert L. Schultz JCC, a number of Peninsula Jewish organizations hope to relocate to the campus. The Mid-Peninsula Jewish Day School, Kehilla Jewish High School, the Jewish Community Relations Council, New Bridges, the Bureau of Jewish Education and others have made inquiries.
The campus may also house a JCF office and a senior-living facility.
The site is about an acre larger than the Marin Jewish community campus in San Rafael, which houses a JCC, Congregation Rodef Sholom, the Brandeis Hillel Day School and Jewish agency offices.
Klein says the Palo Alto campus could offer a deluge of Jewish activities. “One-stop shopping,” he quipped.
“It’s in a perfect spot, really,” said Barry Cheskin, president of the South Peninsula Council of the JCF. “It provides convenient access to people who live in Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton. The benefits of this kind of campus include shared common space and a central Jewish address.”
Although some in the community may raise concerns about the safety of Jewish institutions being all in one location, JCF officials said protecting a centralized location could actually be easier than securing numerous disparate sites.
They also noted that Jewish campuses have thrived for years in other Bay Area communities, including San Rafael and Los Gatos.
In the midst of ongoing discussions over the relocation of the ALSJCC, a real estate broker working for the JCC on a pro bono basis heard in mid-July the campus was going on the market, alerting Saal.
The JCC has leased its current home — the site of the former Terman Middle School — since the early 1980s. The community center must vacate its current Arastradero Road facility, which it leases from the city, by August to make way for a new middle school.
At the behest of the city and the Palo Alto Unified School District, the JCC will spend at least the next several years at a temporary location known as the Cubberley-Greendell site.
Up until the Sun Microsystems land became available, the JCC had long been working on a deal to lease a site on Stanford University land at Page Mill Road and El Camino Real, known as the Mayfield site, with complicated negotiations taking place with the city, the university and the school district.
If, for any reason, the deal with Sun Microsystems falls through, the ALSJCC would proceed with plans to relocate to the Mayfield site.
The Stanford site “is still an option,” said Saal. However, she added, the Sun campus is “our top priority.”
The latter, she noted, is “big enough to accommodate all our needs and we will own the site — those are two tremendous advantages over the [Stanford] site.”
In addition, “the chance to house so many community-serving organizations on one site is extraordinary.”
Sam Salkin, the JCF’s chief executive officer, agreed.
“The opportunity for a campus in the south Peninsula is something we have talked and dreamed about for a generation,” he said. “A campus is particularly appropriate to our federation area, which has virtually no identifiable Jewish neighborhoods, and Jewish social space is pretty much limited to JCCs and synagogues. The creation of a campus, I believe, is sort of the modern equivalent of a Jewish neighborhood.”
The ALSJCC coveted the Sun site, but its asking price and size necessitated forming a partnership with other Jewish groups. Saal contacted the JCF in August, and she, Goldman and Salkin visited the site Aug. 23.
“It’s a lot of money,” admits Goldman of the campus’ price. “But the question is, ‘Is it the right thing for the community?’ We feel the answer is, unequivocally, yes.”
Klein said he wouldn’t be surprised if competing offers were higher than his, but he felt the JCF-JCC team’s ability to close the deal made its bid the most attractive.
Residential developers, Klein says, may have offered more money but would have required up to a year and a half to obtain the necessary city approvals. The JCF-JCC team said it could complete the deal in a fraction of that time.
“As a seller in a very troubled market, it’s pretty scary to sign up for an 18-month closing period. All kinds of things can happen in 18 months,” he said. “We don’t know the [details] of the auction, but my guess is we were a little low on price and a little stronger on terms.”
he JCF-JCC partnership must raise the siteís purchase price by Jan. 15 — which JCC and federation officials say they are capable of doing. Klein said a $50 million capital campaign is under way, with the extra money needed for interest on bank loans and any unexpected costs.
Saal speculated that Sun may have seen a sale to the JCF-JCC partnership as a way for the company to give back to the community, to perform “a public service.”
The 3-1/2 month fund-raising campaign to cover the cost of construction and operation promises to be a difficult one.
“That is the challenge,” said Goldman. “That was the understood challenge from Day One. There are individuals with interests in various parts of the Jewish experience who are excited they’ll have the opportunity to come together in one place. There are donors who have perhaps never made significant pledges of this size to a Jewish community facility or asset who are very interested.”
Goldman, Salkin and others said funds would be raised predominantly — but not exclusively — from the south Peninsula area.
The federation will advance the money for the campus’ $1.5 million down payment — which becomes non-refundable after Nov. 21. The JCF will use fund-raising pledges to obtain a bank loan that enables it to borrow 50 cents for each pledged dollar, said Saal.
The campus will eventually be owned by a limited-liability corporation, which would be an asset of a supporting foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund. Its board of trustees would “be highly representative of the south Peninsula community and the federation,” according to Salkin.
Fund-raisers say they are still confident they can meet their goals, even after the Sept. 11 attacks and the U.S. military responses this week.
“I’m certain those events will increase uncertainty in the economy and may create some uncertainty among donors,” Cheskin said. “But I think the goal is so powerful a cause that’s so strong, I’m confident we’ll succeed.”