Middle Plaza Wants To Be Silicon Valley’s Answer To Rodeo Drive

A retail renaissance is unfolding in Menlo Park, California, an upscale corner of Silicon Valley near Stanford University. More than a decade in the works, the $100 million-plus mixed-use development will feature two office buildings – SoftBank has leased the larger one – high end apartments for Stanford faculty, and 35,000 square feet of retail space called Middle Plaza, which will be housed in a three-story building on the property.

The land, which is owned by the university, sits along the El Camino corridor and was previously populated by car dealerships. This is the first upscale development of this size and scope, said Stephen and Jared Silver, principals of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry. The Silvers, who are managing and programming the retail and restaurant spaces at Middle Plaza, said the luxury retail and dining experience will open in the fourth quarter.

Along with the late visionary real estate mogul, John Arrilaga Sr., in partnership with Stanford, the Silvers have been intent on radically evolving the local community, by building a new cultural hub showcasing high end shopping, dining and art.

The zip codes served by the new development consistently rank among the country’s most affluent, according to Bay Area NBC station KNTV Channel 11. Almost half of the U.S.’s richest zip codes are located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The ground floor will be divided into two parts, with half of the space earmarked for luxury boutiques, and the other half devoted to restaurateur Ayesha Thapar and chef Srijith Gopinathan’s new restaurant concept, Eylan. Gopinathan helmed the Taj Campton Place in San Francisco, where he earned in 2019 a second Michelin star for his Cal-India fusion fare. He’s also the chef-partner of Palo Alto Indian restaurant Ettan, which recently received a Michelin mention.

“This is planned to be Silicon Valley’s answer to Rodeo Drive,” Jared Silver, president of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, said. “It will be a townhouse experience with subterranean parking. You’ll be able to valet your car and ride up on the dedicated elevator. We have three floors of boutiques and our own private elevator.”

In addition to Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, which will unveil a flagship at Middle Plaza, four stores have been leased to exotic Swiss watchmakers, including, MB&F, which is also opening a boutique on Rodeo Drive, and recently unveiled stores in Singapore at the Raffles Hotel, Paris at the Place Vendome, and the Dubai Mall. H. Moser & Cie, watches and Roger Dubuis, a watchmaker known for its technical prowess and its Excalibur collection, will also open ground floor boutiques.

Bulgari will launch a new concept, a boutique featuring watches with ultra thin movements and highly technical pieces. The brand, which is well-known for its jewelry will highlight the Octo Finissimo family of watches. Bulgari holds eight world records for the thinnest automatic, thinnest tourbillon, thinnest chronograph, and thinnest minute repeater. “Being next to the watch brands greatly elevates Bulgari’s position as a watch manufacturer,” said Silver.

The Silvers will soon be announcing two additional brands that will round out the ground floor boutiques.

On the second floor, the Stephen Silver Lounge, a 4,000-square-foot experience created by John de la Cruz, a local interior designer, will feature watches ranging in price from $3,500 to seven figures, with most between $20,000 and $60,000. “We’ll be hiring two watchmakers to do service and repair work in the future,” Silver said.

“In the Bay Area, we’re different than Paris, we’re different than New York, and we’re different than Los Angeles,” Silver said. “We have a much more low-key vibe. People are a lot more private, but they have good taste. They just don’t necessarily like to show it all the time. They don’t like to flaunt it, they want to enjoy it in private. So the second floor will be designed as a home.

A private showroom and salon on the third floor of the townhouse will showcase high jewelry and watches from Messika, Hermes, Urwerk, Greubel Forsey, Laurent Ferrier, Bovet, Ressence, Louis Erard, Arnold & Son, Bell & Ross, and Purnell, among others. “We’ll have our own Stephen Silver-branded jewelry creations,” Silver said, adding that the company’s new corporate headquarters will be located on the third floor.

Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry has a partnership with Louis XIII, a 100-year aged cognac. “Years ago we acquired one of the largest bottles of Louis XIII in North America, it’s called Le Mathusalem, it’s a six-liter bottle,” said Silver, adding, “I wanted to integrate a multi-sensory experience into our retail. Whenever a customer purchases something over $25,000, we celebrate by having our own Louis XIII moment together. We actually give them an ounce pour from the Methusalem. It’s probably the finest cognac in the world if you ask people who are into that sort of thing.”

Silver said that luxury consumers in the Bay area, have had until now two ways to think about shopping for watches and jewelry. “You have Union Square in San Francisco, which unfortunately is going through a bit of a rough patch,” Silver said. “The city’s management of rising crime rates and the homeless population is concerning. The other option is traditional mall retail, which doesn’t offer the personal touch that’s expected in high end luxury retail.”

“Also, brands are forced to move into a mall with a confusing mix of other brands that doesn’t necessarily match the quality of their image,” Silver continued. “We want to integrate and showcase the finest watch and jewelry brands and incorporate that into the fabric of daily life in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.”

“We want to have live music in the summer months and we want to host farmers’ markets,” Silver said. “There’s a beautiful fountain and lots of seating. Between Springline [a development with key San Francisco restaurant outposts] and what we’re doing, one and a half blocks north of us on El Camino, you have the Guild Theater, which just went through a major renovation. They’re having amazing musicians and standup comedians coming through there.

“There’s billions of dollars being invested in the El Camino corridor,” Silver said. “People are moving here. The Menlo Park that I grew up in has dramatically changed. With the Middle Plaza, it will soon be the epicenter of activity of the San Francisco Bay area. Now, the reality is that everyone is moving out of the city. It’s really sad and on a downward spiral. The trade winds have shifted.”

Another iconic California open air luxury center, The Americana at Brand in Glendale, Calif., hosts cultural celebrations, food festivals and live music. “Middle Plaza is much smaller than the Americana, but it will make a big impact in our community and it will change the way retail is perceived.

“That’s the differentiator here,” Silver said. “To have so many world-class brands opening in one place is unheard of in Menlo Park. For many of these brands, this is one of their first boutiques in the U.S. They see the Silicon Valley market as a critical step in their global development.”