Sunnyvale is on a roll

Jun 19, 2013, 12:06pm PDT

As LinkedIn, Amazon move in, Sunnyvale looks to keep momentum

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Vicki Thompson

Connie Verceles is the economic development manager for the city of Sunnyvale at a time when LinkedIn, Yahoo, and a host of other tech tenants are flocking to the South Bay city. Click above for a demographic breakdown of Sunnyvale.

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Lauren Hepler

Economic Development Reporter- Silicon Valley Business Journal

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Connie Verceles has piloted Sunnyvale’s economic development initiatives through vastly different business climates. An 11-year veteran of the city who first took the reigns during the dot-com bust, Verceles now steers Sunnyvale through a period of growth.
The city scored the two biggest leases of 2012 with LinkedIn’s new 587,000-square-foot campus and Amazon’s 582,000-square-foot Lab 126 project. (Click through the photos to the right for a glimpse of Sunnyvale's biggest employers and a local demographic breakdown.)
In an interview edited for length and clarity, Verceles talks about Sunnyvale's major projects and the city’s future.
What’s the secret to landing big-name tech tenants?
If they’re building large projects, we have our one-stop center. A majority of permits are issued over the counter. In the case of Amazon with Lab 126, they’re doing tenant improvements, but they went into a very sexy location at Moffett Towers. In the case of LinkedIn, they’re building a campus from scratch.
We do a lot of behind-the-scenes work ahead of time. We were the ones that started the one-stop shop back in the day – almost 30 years ago. We still get requests from other cities who want to come in and shadow our staff.
Which sectors are performing well for the city right now?
We continue to grow our biomedical device niche as well as manufacturing. Intuitive Surgical is a fantastic company buying its own buildings and growing its manufacturing. Same thing with Bloom Energy – they’re growing like crazy, up to 1,000 employees after seven years in Sunnyvale.
How important is diversity among businesses in the city?

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Lauren Hepler covers economic development, sports, and hospitality for the Silicon Valley Business Journal. She can be reached at 408.299.1820