Newport Beach is getting its first large waterfront coworking space through a project backed by the co-founder of enterprise software giant SAP SE.
SAP is also taking space at the Lido-area creative office building, and has indicated that it plans to open a self-described “innovation center” as part of its operations there.
If those plans move forward, the building would become the second such innovation center in the U.S. for Germany-based SAP (NYSE: SAP), which has a $137 billion market value.
Its other domestic location is in Silicon Valley. It has nine such international locations, too.
The innovation centers are a “startup-like environment, [where] we explore and develop meaningful new technologies to fuel transformative growth at SAP,” according to the cloud-based software company’s website.
New Haus on Block
SAP will be sharing space in the office with a related venture.
HanaHaus, a Palo Alto-based coworking company, plans to take up a spot at Burnham Ward Properties’ Waterfront building, a roughly 19,000-square-foot office that once held Newport Balboa Savings.
The Newport Beach-based real estate investment firm bought the 1950s-era office in 2015 and has spent the past year or so renovating it.
The office at 3366 Via Lido is part of the revitalized Lido Marina Village area, which now has a number of new retailers, restaurants and offices in buildings largely owned by Burnham, as well San Jose-based DJM Capital Partners.
HanaHaus and SAP will occupy a bulk of that space. A Blue Bottle Coffee store will also be there.
Signs for the building’s main occupants went up late last month. H. Hendy Associates in Newport Beach has been working on the Waterfront building’s interior design, while the Irvine offices of SMS Architects and Shubin Donaldson are working on the exterior design.
The addition of SAP and HanaHaus are the first notable tech tenants to join Newport Beach’s waterfront since artificial intelligence software firm Veritone Inc. decamped for Costa Mesa last year (see tech column, page 16).
The duo’s location marks another sign of energy at the revamped Lido Marina Village area, according to the office project’s developers.
The move to the area brings “together great minds to develop dynamic ideas that will benefit the community and the world with new solutions to enhance our lives,” said Scott Burnham, chief executive and partner for Burnham Ward and its affiliated development firm, Burnham USA.
It’ll be HanaHaus’ second location; its other locale is in a renovated movie theater space in its hometown.
The coworking firm announced plans for an Orange County site last year at an event hosted by UCI Applied Innovation’s the Cove, the in-house incubator for the University of California-Irvine.
Specifics for the location were undisclosed by HanaHaus at the time.
SAP officials revealed at a separate OCTANe event a few months ago that they planned to open a local innovation center to the same undisclosed OC location that would hold HanaHaus when it opened.
The officials have yet to confirm that they’re still planning to put the innovation center in the Lido office, or what business they’ll be conducting in the two-story building; a news release late last month noted that they “will be providing more details on their operations there in the coming months.”
HanaHaus was created by Hasso Plattner, chairman and co-founder of SAP.
The firm is not related to Hana, another coworking firm backed by CBRE Group Inc. (see story, page 1).
The HanaHaus coworking space aims “to innovate, foster equality, spread opportunity across borders and cultures and help organizations run at their best,” according to the company’s website.
Hourly Pricing
Along with those high-minded ideals, HanaHaus also aims to make money as a landlord.
It offers a different pricing model than what’s seen at most other area coworking locations.
It charges entrepreneurs and startups by the hour for space. Its Palo Alto location runs from $3 an hour for lounge area seating for individuals, up to $75 an hour for private areas and larger parties.
The OC location was chosen as its second location because the company wants to “build and nurture an emerging community of innovators and entrepreneurs rather than serve an already existing, mature ecosystem,” the company’s website said.
“We can also build a bridge and foster collaboration between Silicon Valley and Southern California.”
