JLL Capital Markets has completed the $25.75 million sale of 651 Martin Ave., a 7.17-acre infill industrial development site in Santa Clara. The transaction involved the transfer of a rare heavy industrial-zoned parcel in Silicon Valley, underscoring ongoing investor attention on well-located industrial land in core coastal markets. JLL senior director Erik Hanson, together with analysts Brendan Bury and Tasman Lynch, represented the unnamed seller in the disposition. Lift Partners emerged as the buyer of the property.
The site currently includes three existing industrial structures totaling 78,199 square feet. Improvements consist of a 29,644-square-foot warehouse, a 44,162-square-foot warehouse, and a 4,393-square-foot service center. These buildings occupy a 312,325-square-foot parcel, providing both covered and open areas that can support a range of industrial activities under the heavy industrial zoning framework.
The property is zoned for heavy industrial use, a designation that permits a broad spectrum of functions from warehouse and distribution operations to industrial outdoor storage. This flexible zoning profile is a key feature for an infill asset in Silicon Valley, where large-format industrial sites with this entitlement status seldom come to market. According to JLL, the marketing campaign produced a competitive bidding process, highlighting robust investor appetite for industrial infill development opportunities in established coastal markets.
Lift Partners plans to focus on leasing the site in the near term, seeking to stabilize occupancy at the existing improvements while concurrently pursuing entitlements for future industrial development. This two-track approach allows the buyer to generate income from the current buildings while working through the entitlement process to potentially reposition or intensify the asset over time. JLL noted that the property’s combination of heavy industrial zoning and infill location positions it to serve demand from the region’s expanding advanced manufacturing and related industrial users.
Market participants view large, infill heavy industrial sites like 651 Martin Ave. as increasingly scarce in Silicon Valley, where competing land uses and limited supply continue to shape pricing and investor behavior. The response to this offering, as described by JLL, suggests that investors remain willing to compete for well-located industrial land with development potential, particularly when existing improvements provide immediate leasing and income opportunities alongside longer-term redevelopment or expansion options.
