If you are one of the students whohabitually sneaks over to the Oaks Shopping Center across thestreet from campus instead of going to class, then you might behappy to know you could soon be required to go there.The OaksShopping Center just came up for sale and De Anza officials areconsidering making an offer to buy the center. The asking price forOaks Shopping Center is $21.7 million. Jeanine Hawk, vice presidentof College Finance and Services, said De Anza has not determinedhow much it will offer. De Anza currently does not have any moneyset aside for buying the Oaks, so even if the college officialsdecide to buy, it would be a district purchase. “It just came outof the blue,” Hawk said. “We weren’t expecting the center to comeup for sale at this point and time. We found out, just by accident,a few weeks ago that it was for sale.”
Some methods De Anza officials could useto buy the center are through joint ventures, partnerships, anddonations. The owner of Oaks Shopping Center is asking buyers tosubmit their offers by Oct. 28. “This is a very short timeline,which is difficult for us,” Hawk said.
There will be an emergency closed-session meeting of the Board ofTrustees on Oct. 25, to discuss the purchase because De Anza doesnot yet have approval. Hawk does not know how many buyers areactually competing for the Oaks Shopping Center.”From what weunderstand, it will be a property that has quite a bit of interestin it,” Hawks said.
De Anza is considering investing in theOaks shopping center because it needs more room for expansion.Another advantage of the Oaks Shopping Center is that it is closeto the De Anza campus, located directly across from De Anza onStevens Creek Boulevard. “De Anza expects a two percent growth peryear,” Hawk said. “Over the course of ten years we would havedifficulty being able to add more space to the De Anza campus. Wesee this as an opportunity to be able to continue to serve thegrowth that De Anza has.”
A few things could happen should De Anzasuccessfully bid for the Oaks Shopping Center.
Some school services could be moved to make extra room for classeson campus, or classes could be held in the newly purchasedbuildings, or it could be a combination of both. Students who donot like the idea of crossing the street to go to class can resteasy for at least a year because even if buildings are purchased,they must be approved by the DSA, which is the state architectureagency, before they can be used by De Anza for students.”There is aprocess we would have to go through in order to make any facilitiesover there that we would like to use approved by DSA,” Hawk said.”They require certain things to be done, structurally, beforestudents could be housed in those buildings.” Hawk believes thatthe buildings will most likely be renovated before being used.
De Anza has hired a real estate agentfrom Ritchie Commercial Real Estate to evaluate the Oaks ShoppingCenter. Even though De Anza will most likely make an offer for theentire center, some of the shop owners have valid leases that rununtil 2014. Only select buildings that are already vacant will beavailable for sale. The shops that will not be affected by thepurchase are those that are still open including Jamba Juice,Coffee Society, Togo’s, Hobee’s, and others.
Some students may like the idea of taking classes right next totheir favorite shops, but some of the employees may not feel thesame optimism towards De Anza’s proposed purchase.
“De Anza has their space and the Oaks has their space,” saidNicoleYun, a Jamba Juice employee. “So De Anza can keep theirs andthe Oaks can keep theirs, too.”
