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SAN JOSE — Nio USA has leased a big north San Jose building that will be the headquarters and innovation center for the maker of electric vehicles and smart car technologies, commercial real estate firm Colliers said Thursday.
A potential Tesla rival, Nio leased an office building at 3151 Zanker Road that’s just around the corner from the vehicle maker’s current headquarters on North First Street near Montague Expressway in north San Jose.
China-based Nio USA signed a lease for a building that totals 201,500 square feet, agreeing to a 10-year rental deal, according to Colliers.
Colliers brokers Michael Rosendin, Craig Fordyce, Shane Minnis and Ryan Ward represented the owner of the Zanker Road offices. Colliers brokers Sean Toomey, Jere Hench, John McMahon and Sean McMahon represented Nio in the leasing deal.
“Nio USA’s new research and innovation center signifies an exciting chapter for the company as it continues to develop state-of-the-art technology for its electric vehicles,” said Toomey, a senior vice president with Colliers.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Nio USA would move to the just-rented office building.
Nio USA, however, will vacate the existing headquarters building at 3200 N. First St., an office that totals 85,000 square feet.
At one point, Nio had also leased an adjacent building at 3100 N. First St. that totaled 100,000 square feet, giving the company a total of 185,000 square feet at the two-building site.
However, it wasn’t disclosed whether Nio USA ever actually moved into the 3100 N. First offices.
In either case, the Zanker Road rental deal represents a significant local expansion for the Nio USA operations.
The new building will accommodate headquarters, research, digital development activities, testing, assembly, warehousing and other operations, according to Colliers.
The two-story Zanker Road building that Nio leased was originally built in 1990. In 2020, building owner Oakmont Corp. launched a wide-ranging renovation and upgrade of the structure and property.
Oakmont added a new lobby and front facade, completely rebuilt the rear cafe space, installed an outdoor deck next to the cafe, built exterior balconies on the second floor, and added new landscaping and stone paving.
The Zanker Road site includes amenities on the surrounding 1.2 acres such as full-sized basketball and tennis courts, a half basketball court, a sand volleyball court and an amphitheater, according to Oakmont Corp.
“As north San Jose continues to attract global technology innovators, an electric vehicle industry leader like NIO is a perfect fit for one of the market’s premier office and research properties,” said Brad Meadow, managing director of Oakmont Corp., whose affiliate owns the Zanker Road office building.
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