SAN FRANCISCO, (October 16, 2013) - TMG Partners, one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s largest mixed-use property developers, today breaks ground on the headquarters for tenant Samsung R&D Institute America, a Samsung Electronics U.S. R&D Institute (SRA). The campus is the first LEED Platinum office campus in Mountain View, and one of only a handful of projects in the Silicon Valley to seek this highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of this landmark project takes place at 665 Clyde Avenue at 10:30 a.m. 

“What we will deliver for our tenant Samsung R&D Institute America is cutting-edge environmental sustainability for their headquarters,” said Michael Covarrubias, chairman and CEO of TMG Partners, “This environment will be the best and highest complement to the state-of-the-art research and development conducted by Samsung.”

The 385,000 square foot Samsung campus includes two six-story buildings and two five- and six-level photovoltaic covered parking structures. The buildings’ core and shell design are LEED Platinum and the interior tenant improvements will be LEED Gold.

John Inks, the Mayor of Mountain View welcomes Samsung to the City: “The City of Mountain View is proud to be the home to a number of world’s technology companies, including Samsung.  We are pleased to welcome their new headquarters campus to Mountain View.  The Samsung campus will be the first LEED Platinum campus constructed in Mountain View and will set a high standard of sustainability.”

“We are pleased to be partnering with TMG to bring our research and development organization to the city of Mountain View,” said Daniel Eum, President of SRA.  “Our new state-of-the-art R&D institute will provide an outstanding environment to support our plans for strategic growth and attracting the very best employees.  This expansion, in addition to Samsung Semiconductor Inc.’s (SSI) new San Jose campus, builds upon Samsung’s 35 year history in the Bay Area and reinforces our commitment to the valley.”

The design will utilize sustainable features such as natural day-lighting, sun-shading, photovoltaic panels, high-efficiency glass and a five-zone thermodynamic heating and cooling system that reduces and eliminates re-heat energy and increases system efficiency.  The project provides for up to a 20% reduction in auto trips; a reduction of water use by up to 30%; allocating up to 49% of site area for park-like open space; reducing waste by up to 50%; and using less overall energy than the 118,000 square foot, four-building industrial campus that previously occupied the site.  The site is within 2,000 feet of the VTA light rail and will offer bicycle storage, an onsite bike fleet and changing rooms.  The project is founding a non-profit privately funded Transportation Management Association to run the project shuttle system to and from the campus to Downtown Mountain View.

"There are a number of companies in Mountain View that provide shuttles to the train, but we are taking it one step further,” said TMG Partners project manager, Ken Dupee.  “As part of our community benefit, we are forming a Transportation Management Association with other Mountain View employers, a non-profit public benefit corporation to address traffic issues in Mountain View.”

The design and construction team includes Studios Architecture as lead project architect, The Guzzardo Partnership as landscape designer, and Devcon Construction as general contractor.