Chuck Toeniskoetter, a high-profile Silicon Valley real estate executive, is preparing his family-operated business for an expected surge in developing and redeveloping commercial properties and buildings as companies return to their offices after well over a year of coronavirus-linked business shutdowns.
Toeniskoetter’s companies are known for both ground-up development and high-profile renovations.
Among the renovations: the restoration of the iconic San Jose Cathedral in downtown San Jose and the renovation of the historic Santa Clara County Courthouse a few blocks away. The companies’ current headquarters are in a mansion they restored on The Alameda in San Jose.
In Palo Alto, the Toeniskoetter firm carried out a vast renovation of the Hewlett Packard corporate headquarters. They have developed two big business parks in Morgan Hill that have attracted tech firms Flextronics and Paramit to that city. In a major current project, the company is undertaking the restoration and improvement of the Los Gatos Athletic Club.
Now he has reorganized his two companies with an emphasis on a succession plan — and intends to spend more time with three community organizations: The Stroke Awareness Foundation, Team San Jose, and Hunger at Home, which provides restaurant-quality meals for economically disadvantaged people.
This news organization sat down with Toeniskoetter for an interview, which has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What prompted you to decide to conduct a succession plan and how has it worked out so far?
A: The succession has been long in coming. Probably starting about 15 years ago, we started talking about being sure to have a succession. I got really interested in it after my stroke. Dec. 23, 2000. 2:30 in the afternoon. I know exactly when it was. I was out for a bit. Succession is very important now because of my age.
Q: How are the companies organized now?
A: We have a development company and we have a construction company. They operate hand in glove with each other. Coming out of the pandemic, we are going to have a lot of work that I can’t do anymore. Now I can guide and mentor and answer questions. I can help open doors for the new management.
Q: How would you describe your family’s roots?
A: I’m from St. Louis. That’s where we started with our ancestors, making wagons for the people who were traveling across the country, as well as leather goods. I went to Notre Dame, then joined the Marine Corps. I graduated from Stanford. Then I went to work for McKinsey & Co. in San Francisco and my family was in Palo Alto. But I couldn’t put my roots down in any community. So I looked at San Jose and I could see this high-tech thing starting to happen. I left a very lucrative job at McKinsey and went to work for the Swenson company in 1975.
Q: What did you like about the South Bay?
A: What I was most impressed with was how open it was to someone who hadn’t started out here. We didn’t know anybody here. In places like San Francisco, you need to have a pedigree to get into a company. San Jose and Silicon Valley are so open compared to San Francisco.
Q: How did you start your first company?
A: In 1982, I met Dan Breeding at Swenson and we decided to start our own company. We opened up our shop on Feb. 1, 1983. We focused on tenant improvements.
Q: When is the best time to launch a venture?
A: When things are down, that’s when you start. We have started almost every company in a recession.
Q: How did the coronavirus slump play a factor?
A: COVID 19 caused a downturn and created a great time to make this transition for our companies. Every forecast says the next two years are going to be very, very active for development and construction. Our two companies are in a great position for the upturn.
Q: What sort of opportunities do you see for yourself with the transition?
A: I can’t run as far or as fast as I used to. The opportunity for me is to step aside and let the great people here develop and expand the company. I’m always concerned about the staff and their families. I also have a chance to participate more with boards I’m involved in. We have some thoughts about this homeless issue and hope to help in some way.
Q: What’s the potential for San Jose now?
A: It’s San Jose’s turn now. The whole momentum of development and growth has moved south to San Jose. It’s just natural that it comes to San Jose. So many tech firms moved to San Francisco. But the environment has deteriorated dramatically in San Francisco. These companies want more space. They want access to talented people. And San Jose provides all of that.
Q: Are the development players in San Jose making a difference?
A: You have Google, Jay Paul, Westbank, Dillabough, and all of those wonderful things that are planned. In years past, you had Lew Wolff and Kim Small. The momentum is there. The commitments are there. It finally is in the process of happening.
Q: Are companies and tech workers starting to return to the office?
A: If you survey the staff of these companies, the employees say they want to work from home three days or more a week. If you talk to the people who are writing the checks, the people who are running the companies, they will say there is a place for working from home.
Q: The newest big player in San Jose is the Westbank-Gary Dillabough alliance. What do you think of that venture?
A: Westbank, if they can even build two of the five or six projects they are talking about, San Jose will make its mark. You get Google and Jay Paul with their developments, those will be huge.
Q: About Westbank, they could have chosen San Francisco or Oakland, Los Angeles, with so many choices, San Jose is the city they picked.
A: Isn’t that something? They said San Jose is the place.
Q: How does Toeniskoetter fit into this?
A: We have a long-term view of this. I think we are going to have all kinds of opportunities that I didn’t even think we had when we first built these companies. We positioned these companies to be right in front of what’s happening. I wish I were 40 again.
CHUCK TOENISKOETTER
Companies: Toeniskoetter Development, Toeniskoetter Construction
Jobs: Chairman
Age: 76
Birthplace: St. Louis
Residence: Los Gatos
Education: University of Notre Dame Bachelor of Science Mechanical Engineering, MBA Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Family: Wife and four adult children.
FIVE THINGS ABOUT CHUCK TOENISKOETTER
1. Married for 54 years to his wife Linda, who is an artist.
2. U.S. Marine Corps, 1967-1971. Served in Vietnam, 1968-1969.
3. Has participated in more than 40 community boards and has served on the board of directors of three publicly held companies
4. Has traveled through nearly every one of the 50 states on his Harley Davidson motorcycle accompanied by friends. Has also ridden his Harley in Cuba and New Zealand.
5. In 2009, Toeniskoetter attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in western South Dakota’s Black Hills region, an annual event that frequently draws 500,000 or more bikers.
