Holland Partner Group to Assume Gateway Crossings’ 99-Year Ground Lease

A ground lease recently changed hands for Phase I of Gateway Crossings, a 13.3-acre site to be developed into a 1,565-unit garden-style multifamily property in Santa Clara. Located at 1205 Coleman Ave., Gateway Crossings is the residential component of a larger development by Hunter Storm, which includes the Avaya Soccer Stadium, home to the San Jose Earthquakes, and 1.425 million square feet of office space occupied by Verizon Wireless and Roku.

Holland Partner Group will assume the 99-year ground lease. California-based Hunter Properties Inc. was the former leaseholder.

“We’re incredibly optimistic about the long-term value of this development and excited that through the ground lease structure we’ll still stay connected to it,” said Deke Hunter, president of Hunter Properties. “The Holland Partner Group is absolutely the right partner to bring this project to fruition and we’re thrilled to partner with them.”

Brett Betzler of Berkadia San Francisco brokered the lease on behalf of Hunter Properties.

“The initial plan was a fee sale, and we received a number of offers from great developers, but our client had also expressed interest in doing a ground lease, and several of the top bidders said that they would be open to it,” said Betzler. “Being in escrow through the pandemic, we learned that one advantage of a well-structured ground lease deal is its resiliency to short-term market volatility.” There is a pedestrian tunnel to the Santa Clara Caltrain station and Santa Clara University across the street. Gateway Crossings is less than 2 miles from the San Jose International Airport.