Silicon Valley Business Journal
From the article:
Less than three months after buying Spansion Inc.'s campus in Sunnyvale for $60 million, Watt Companies is moving forward with plans to turn the 24.5-acre site into a new residential community.
On Monday, the Southern California-based developer passed its first test when the Sunnyvale Planning Commission agreed to study converting the largely industrial site's zoning to housing. The decision was not guaranteed, given that city staff, in a rare move, had declined to issue a recommendation for the study given other possible uses for the land.
Watt's proposal, which is still in the early stages, is just the latest attempt to redevelop the aging campus. Residential developers Trumark and Prometheus in recent years had each optioned the land, part of a federal Superfund cleanup site, but fell out of contract. Watt, in a bold bet, closed escrow on the property in January before securing city approvals.
Spansion has yet to sign a lease elsewhere and remains in the space on a lease-back agreement.
Watt envisions demolishing the outdated industrial buildings and building up to 521 for-sale units on the site, which contains about 471,000 square feet of buildings at 915 De Guigne Drive.