Alviso/North San Jose entertainment district is now a data center

Next to the Topgolf in Alviso was a grand plan for an entertainment district containing shops, restaurants, and two hotels. Five years later, the area around Topgolf is still barren (although Topgolf is doing very well on its own). 

Now, the owners of the land are coming back to the city with a very different proposal that is likely to be a lot less exciting for North San Jose residents... a giant data center. I'm digging the exterior design with a living wall for the 172,500 SQFT two-story building and it's neighboring 174,400 SQFT three-story power center--but it's still a server farm. 

There is still hope for a 15,000 SQFT retail space, which could house a few restaurants. However, that is nothing compared the the multi-million SQFT projects Santa Clara is planning down the street. In a few years there will be tons of new apartments, office buildings, restaurants, shopping, and at least one new hotel across from Levi's stadium. Not to mention all of Great America will likely be turned into some mixed used mega-property like Santana Row over the next 10-15 years. 

Something is better than nothing from a city tax dollar perspective, but we should question whether this is the best use for this land. Once it's a data center, I don't think it will be convertible to anything else.

Source: The Merc