New Hotel proposed in Little Italy San Jose

Little Italy could get a significant addition in the near future. Developer BPR wants to replace a trio of single-family homes on West St. John Street with a six-story hotel (the homes would likely be relocated). The hotel would have 105 guest rooms and parking for up to 41 vehicles. I'm saying it that way because most of the parking spaces will have mechanical lifts to hold two cars each.

The exact location is across the street from Henry's Hi-life and next to Enoteca La Storia, two excellent restaurants. Bel Bacio Coffee and Paesano Ristorante Italiano are within a block. It would also be next to Guadalupe River Park with easy walking access to the SAP Center and San Pedro Square. This is a great opportunity to create a boutique hotel in an up-and-coming neighborhood that might be little but is big on character.

Source: SVBJ

Garden Gate Tower plans purchased by British developer

Scape, a London-based developer specializing in student housing, has purchased the plans for Garden Gate Tower at the tail end of the SoFA District in Downtown San Jose. The current design calls for a shiny 27-story tower with an impressive penthouse amenity floor as you can see below.

Gardent Gate Tower was slated to have 290 condos and 4,840 SQFT of retail space. However, it is possible that Scape will try to convert this into a co-living or student housing building given that is their expertise. If they make the change, they would be in good company. The Graduate already starting taking tenants and KT Urban is planning an 850-bedroom co-living tower nearby.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose Development Map

The San Jose Economy blog has updated the map of new development projects in San Jose. The Sharks Ice expansion, Tribute Hotel, Garden Gate, 200 Park, Platform 16, Building 7 at Coleman Highline, and Danco Housing @ West San Carlos have been added. The planning team is reviewing development permits for more than 9,000 residential units and a staggering 15 million SQFT of office space citywide. Hopefully this will still come to fruition after the pandemic boils over.u

Most of the new project are centered around Downtown San Jose. Half of the proposed office space and 40% of the residential units are in the Downtown core. 551 hotel rooms and 86,000 SQFT of new retail are in the mix as well.

As for the projects currently under construction, you're looking at 8.7 million SQFT of office space, 1.3 million SQFT of retail, 470 hotel rooms, and 4,131 new residential units.

Check out the interactive map over here!

Former Camera 12 Theaters space will become office and retail

It's a bittersweet solution to a key space in the middle of Downtown San Jose, but at least it is better than the empty shell that exists today. Camera 12 was my favorite movie theater, and one of the few three-story movie theaters in the country. I was hoping this could be repurposed into a high-end theater with luxury seats, cocktails, and upscale dining similar to the Showplace ICON in Valley Fair. However, it appear Urban Catalyst has a firm plan for the 70,330 SQFT site.

The plan is to convert the space into a five-story building called "Paseo." This will be interesting to see executed given the existing configuration. They will likely have to gut the whole building. The top four floors will support 73,000 SQFT of office space while the ground floor will have 15,000 SQFT of retail.

I am excited about what the retail opportunities could be, especially given the whole street is starting to fill up. Scott's Seafood is moving to the former Social Policy space on the same block and Hapa Musubi is a few doors down (one of Downtown's most popular eateries, often completely selling out of food daily). It may no longer be a movie theater, but I'm certain this can be an anchor for urban activity Downtown.

Source: SVBJ

Downtown San Jose's epic development roadmap

I've been following Downtown San Jose development for the last 21 years, and I have never seen so many impressive projects in the pipeline--not even in the peak of the .com bubble in 1999 and 2000.

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has put together a list of the top 20 projects that are currently in the pipeline. Several are in the million+ SQFT category, which is equivalent to three or four typical high rise buildings. Even if half of these come to fruition, Downtown San Jose will never look the same.

As an added bonus, below is a recording of the "Future of San Jose" event, where you can hear several San Jose leaders share their thoughts on where San Jose is going.

Source: SVBJ

Museum Place tower moves forward

A 20-story mixed-use tower next to the Tech Interactive museum has been unanimously approved. "Museum Place" will replace Parkside Hall behind the Tech with 928,000 SQFT of new office space, 8,400 SQFT of retail, and a 60,000 SQFT expansion of the museum.

This was originally going to be a hotel and residential tower, but given the state of the market the project was converted to commercial users instead. As San Jose is the only large city in the country whose daytime population decreases, this seems like a fair change to help correct our jobs/housing imbalance (San Jose needs more jobs, other Silicon Valley cities need to step up for housing).

If all goes well, Museum Place will break ground in 2020.

Source: SVBJ

Latest concept plans for Diridon Station

In order to mitigate the traffic nightmare in the Bay Area, we have to locate jobs and homes close to transit. There is no better transit location in the South Bay than Diridon Station. Millions of square feet of office space, residential units, retail, and hotels are destined to be built near or next to the station. Needless to say, there is a lot of pressure to make the station live up to the attention it is getting. The centerpiece of Downtown San Jose's next phase of urbanization needs to be world class.

Below are some of the latest drawings from Dutch planning firms that are working on the next big redesign of the station. These need to incorporate BART and potentially High Speed Rail, as well as easier access from every direction.

Part of the concept is elevating the tracks for all lines except for Light Rail and BART, which will both meet the station underground. There will also be two main concourses beneath the rail lines with multiple entrances on both Santa Clara Street and San Fernando Street.

The drawings are quite impressive compared to the current layout of the station. I'm optimistic the final product will do the Capital of Silicon Valley justice.

Source: SVBJ

KT Urban proposes a 1.15 million SQFT tower

A prolific developer is looking to transform a corner at Almaden and Woz way into either an office or residential project, or perhaps even a combination of both. They have a preliminary site development plan with three options for the 2.6-acre parcel:

1.) All-office: 20-story, 1.15 million SQFT office tower with 977,000 SQFT of net office space.
2.) Mixed-use: 27-story office ower with 500,000 SQFT of net office space and a 27-story residential tower with 300 residential units and 300 hotel rooms.
3.) All-residential: A 27-story residential tower with 750 units.

I'm most excited by option 2, but honestly any of these three would be an asset to the Downtown San Jose area. KT Urban is working to secure city approval by the fourth quarter of 2020 and there is no publicized target date for construction.

Source: SVBJ

Google's vision for Diridon takes shape

We are getting closer and closer to the most significant mixed use project in Downtown San Jose history. Last month, the Station Area Advisory Group (SAAG) provided the first public viewing for the initial Diridon Station plan. The key principles for the project are locating jobs and housing near transit, connecting people to nature, creating partnerships, and making sure the San Jose brand is represented.

The numbers being thrown around for this project are surreal. 5.5 million SQFT of new office space followed by another million SQFT on the San Jose Water building site, 3,000-5,000 new housing units, 500,000 SQFT of retail/arts/hotel space, and 15 acres of green spaces.

It will take many years if not decades for this to all come together, but the direction is both promising and exciting.

Source: SJ Economy Blog

Urban Catalyst building a 170-room hotel

Developer Urban Catalyst is planning a 170-room business hotel at 491 W. San Carlos Street, just a couple blocks away from the Children's Discovery Museum and Discovery Meadow. This will be very close to the future Google campus as well, which goes to show how that project is already transforming and expanding the Downtown San Jose landscape.

The initial design for the eight-story hotel is not inspiring, but it will help fill a desperate need for rooms near Downtown San Jose. For all of the details, hit the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

2019 Annual Spring Symposium

The Urban Planning Coalition at SJSU is hosting their 8th Annual Urban Planning Symposium on Saturday, April 27th at the MLK Library. The theme will be of great interest to a lot of the locals urbanists and Downtown residents reading this--personal transportation devices (PTDs). Downtown patrons have become infatuated with scooters, shared bikes, and even funky one-wheel skateboards. The symposium discusses how these devices can become more sustainable, the impact on urban planning, and the future of these devices on the SJSU campus and Downtown.

Admission is free and breakfast and lunch are provided. If you are a student you will even get some credits for attending. To learn more about each panel and RSVP, head over here.

Map of future Downtown San Jose projects

This collage was created nine months ago by CTA25 from the San Jose Development Forum on Skyscrapercity (yup, that's how far behind I am on the forum). While some projects already have revised designs and it is missing some of the recent megaprojects like Adobe's 4th tower and Boston Properties' insane 1.8 million SQFT proposal, this provides a pretty good perspective on just how different Downtown San Jose will look in a few years. Red lines are projects that are already well under construction.

Source: San Jose Development Forum (thanks for putting this together CTA25!)

Sobrato wows with proposal for "Bock 8" Downtown

The Sobrato Organization has been sitting on a prime 1.5 acre parking lot at the corner of Market and San Carlos for eight years. This was once earmarked for a three-tower condo project that failed to get off the ground. Sobrato's proposal is single 600,160 SQFT tower designed to look like four individual buildings.

The modern glass tower would be 17 stories high with most being dedicated to office space. Thankfully, there will be 19,600 SQFT of retail on the ground floor. Parking will be on floors two through six, which also adds more Downtown parking supply for evenings and weekends.

Floor plates will reach an impressive 50,000 SQFT, perfect for tech companies. Even more interesting are two rooftop gardens. One will be on the 14th floor and span 10,400 SQFT while the other will be on the 15th floor and clock in a 12,700 SQFT. Finally, San Jose is making better use of high-rise rooftops with proposals like this--two highrise hotels in the pipeline also feature penthouses with amenities like pools, restaurants, and green space.

Currently this will be a spec project without a specific tenant in mind. There is no specific timeline for construction--let's keep our fingers crossed that this will move forward soon.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose approves a 1 million SQFT office complex near Diridon

"Platform 16" is going to be one of the largest office developments in San Jose history. It will of course be dwarfed by Google's 8 million SQFT campus, but for now this is the largest project we have in queue.

The project will have three buildings: one would be 157,000 SQFT, another would be 367,000 SQFT, and the last one would clock in near 500,000 SQFT. Floor plates will be massive, ranging from 27,000 to 90,000 SQFT, and there is 15 feet between floors which should allow for very tall ceilings. Each floor also will have its own private terrace.

Parking would be a four-story underground structure with 2,264 parking spaces. This is a short walk or bike ride away from Diridon and the Downtown core, so hopefully a lot of people will choose alternative transit to work by the time this is complete in 2021.

Barring any major economic shift in the next few years, Downtown's future outlook is looking quite bright.

Source: SVBJ

New Adobe "Super Tower" design unveiled

Adobe has just released a drawing of it's massive 18-story tower dubbed "North Tower." It will eventually house 3,000 additional employees, which is roughly equivalent to the three towers it has today... combined. In other words, it's going to be insanely large.

The super-tower will clock in at 700,000 SQFT, with a retail component and several floors of parking both below and above ground. It will be the largest hi-rise of any kind Downtown. A bridge lined with trees and seating areas will connect the existing towers to North Tower. It also appears that a recreation area with trees will be placed on the roof of the building overlooking the Santa Cruz mountains.

It is fantastic to see Adobe--one of the first tech companies to seriously invest in Downtown--step up and increase their commitment to the city. The design looks eye-catching and contemporary. Yes, I wish this was a normal-width 56-story tall structure instead of effectively being three buildings put together side-by-side, but I have to hand it to Adobe for being creative and working with existing constraints (darn flight path). The expansion will be impossible to miss from the freeway and will forever change the skyline. I hope they will try to include the community as much as possible in the campus. I would love to be able to grab lunch and enjoy it on that bridge.

Park View Towers design refresh

One of the oldest San Jose high-rise projects in the develop queue is getting a slight makeover and redesign. Park View Towers consists of three buildings that wrap around a historic church adjacent to St. James Park. Originally the church was going to be moved, which could have severely damaged the once dilapidated building. The latest plans keep the old church building where it is and feature more traditional looking buildings that better blend in with the area. The original design featured mostly glass like Axis. The lowrise building with townhomes has also gained a floor with the design revision.

The area around St. James Park could certainly use more residents to help revitalize the area. Hopefully the changes will help the project move along faster.

Source: SVBJ

New 20-story office tower proposed Downtown

Development proposals are continuing to roll in! The latest one comes from developer JP DiNapolis Cos. who spent $11.5 million for two vacant office buildings at 200 Park Avenue last week. Their plan is to build a 20-story office tower with a grand total of 740,000 SQFT of office space. The project would also include 1,200 parking spaces that would be shared with the Hyatt Place next door.

The general area could be completely transformed within a few years. This tower would rise on the same block where Insight Realty is planning Museum Place, an epic mixed-use development with residential, hotel, office space, retail, and an expansion of the Tech Museum. Across the street a 24-story residential tower is also proposed at City View Plaza and a block away Adobe is planning a fourth office tower that would double its employee count.

If everything goes according to plan, the new office tower will be under construction by the end of 2019.

Source: SVBJ

Downtown San Jose BART Station renders

Now that the construction methodology has been finalized for the BART subway in San Jose (single bore), let's have a quick look at the stunning station that is being planned for Downtown San Jose. To call the current design "open" would be a serious understatement. From the lowest point you can look up to the ceiling 145 feet or so above. The layout is modern and welcoming with high tech flourishes throughout. Check out the renders below of what will become one of the most iconic stations in the BART network.

Source: Robertee from the San Jose Development Forum

San Jose Crane Watch is up to 97 major projects

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has a great development map which you can access here. There are now over 97 major development projects, most of which are centered around Downtown San Jose. These include office, residential, hotel, health car, education, retail, and mixed-use projects that were either proposed or are actively under construction. The project has to be at least 100,000 SQFT in size to make it to the map (that means the pipelines has well over 10 million SQFT of projects).

Some of the latest additions include a 19-story, 220 room hotel tower on Santa Clara Street and a 500,000 SQFT mixed use project in North San Jose. Learn more and check out the map using the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

New 27West renders

A skinny 22-story residential tower in Downtown San Jose's historic neighborhood is moving forward, albeit with a less unique design than what was originally proposed. The tower--currently named 27West--would be at 27 S. First St. in one of the more lively sections of Downtown. You might know the space as Local Color or remember it when it used to be Ross (or a furniture store called Black Sea Gallery before that). Good Karma, Paper Plane, Temple Bar, Nomakai, CREAM, Tea Alley, 55 South, and Original Gravity are all steps away from the proposed building.

27West would have a total of 350 residences and 5,100 SQFT of retail. I don't want to call the new design bland, but it is quite a bit less exciting than the previous renders. I also wish they did something with the roof like a small park, pool, or amenity space. It does appear to better blend into the neighborhood which features several historic buildings.

The developers behind 27West are hoping to begin construction by the end of the year and complete the tower in 2020.

Source: The Merc