Park Avenue in Downtown San Jose is reopening

The massive 200 Park Avenue office tower is pretty much complete, and that means that Park Avenue between Market Street and Almaden can reopen. However, this street got a major facelift with new pedestrian improvements, bike lanes, and bioswales (organic channels or trenches that collect rainwater runoff and filter out pollutants).

200 Park is 19-stories above ground and has four levels of underground parking. There is a total of 840,000 SQFT of office space, 26,000 SQFT of outdoor terraces, and 2,000 SQFT of retail. Each floor of office space is a whopping 54,000 SQFT... it's massive.

Park Avenue won't be open indefinitely as other high-rise projects are planned for City View Plaza across the street from 200 Park. Eventually that entire block will be torn down and replaced with three large interconnected buildings that could add another 3.8 million SQFT of office space to Downtown San Jose. The timing might not be great for that project today, but in the future when funding and demand allow... it will make for a very large tech campus in a great location.

Source: Downtown Dimension

Future CityView Plaza Proposal

Old Fry's HQ will become a giant office campus

The shuttered Mayan-themed Fry's store and previous Fry's HQ on Brokaw Road are destined to become a seven-building tech campus. Combined, they will add another 2 million SQFT of office space to North San Jose. 

However, don't expect to see this completed anytime soon. The developer is planning to build the project in four phases over a decade and won't even begin construction until 2024 at the soonest.

Source: SVBJ

Platform 16 project is now well underway

While there is still quite a bit of vacant office space in the Bay Area, that is not stopping developers from working on flagship projects. Platform 16 is across the street from the San Jose Market Center on Coleman and just a couple of blocks away from the SAP Center and Diridon Station. When Google resumes their new campus, it will be in the neighborhood as well.

As you can see in the 2nd image below, foundation work is nearly complete and soon you'll see the 1.1 million SQFT office project rising up. With companies fleeing SF, Downtown San Jose provides an urban environment that also has suburban amenities closeby. It should be very attractive to companies that want to cater both to young workers and those with families.

Source: SF YIMBY

SoFA will never be the same if these 6 towers get built

Feast your eyes on two projects consisting of three towers each in Downtown San Jose's artsy SoFA district. I love how these proposals continue to get more and more impressive with natural elements and rooftop amenities.

The first five renders below are a joint residential venture between Urban Community and Terrascape Ventures with 386 units. Two towers would be around 420 S. 2nd Street and clock in at 12 and 22 stories plus 8,000 SQFT of retail in a public plaza between the buildings. This is where the Dai-Thanh Supermarket and Dakao Sandwich shop currently stand. A third 20-story would rise on 420 S. 3rd St. and replace an old apartment complex. At least two towers would have an outdoor rooftop deck and lounge with trees and plants. The entire project would be built using mass timber and cross-laminated timber and operate with net-zero carbon emissions.

The next five renders are Westbank's "The Orchard" mixed-use project at the very entrance of SoFA from San Salvador Street. The towers looks great, but the ground-floor retail looks phenomenal! Currently, most of this proposal covers what today is a giant outdoor parking lot.

If just one of these projects moves forward, it will transform the area. If both make it, it'll be a revelation. It would triple the amount of foot traffic on most days and likely turn SoFA into an even more thriving area than San Pedro Square or the Historic District.

Sources: SVBJ, Aphelion2100 from the SJ Development Forum

Unique office and housing tower could transform Downtown skyline

The word iconic gets thrown out a lot, but there is a proposal at 35 S. Second St. whose design would truly be iconic for the Downtown San Jose skyline. "Energy Hub" is a curvy office and residential tower that features multiple cutouts for trees and plants--not to mention a full living roof. Have a look at the second and third renders below to see how this concept looks in the context of other Downtown buildings. The change would be pretty dramatic.

The tower is actually two connected buildings that rise 21 floors. Retail and restaurants wrap around the ground floor, followed by residential space across 10 floors (194 units total), and topped with 314,000 SQFT of office space. There is also an atrium-like urban room on the ground floor accessible to the public. 

The roof is essentially a giant park with amenities for both residents and office workers. There are trees, hills, lounge areas, places to picnic, and even an full-blown running track. It has to be one of the most unique amenities proposed for the roof of any Downtown building (hopefully there is a pool or lake up there as well).

This proposal goes to show you don't have to have height in order to make a project stand out and change the entire landscape of an urban neighborhood.

Source: The Merc

Urban Catalyst replacing Garden City Casino with a large mixed-use project

The former Garden City Casino and Harry's Hofbrau area in West San Jose is going to get a significant overhaul. Urban Catalyst would like to build a mixed-use project combining office space, residential, a senior living complex, and a hotel.

Each of these four elements would have it's own dedicated building. Along Saratoga you'll find the office building and hotel. The offices would clock in around 300,000 SQFT across nine stories. The hotel would have 175 rooms, with suitability for both for short and long-term accommodations (I think this will mean two hotel brands sharing the same back-of-house resources and staff). One really neat feature is a rooftop deck above the hotel lobby (or lobbies) with the swimming pool and amenity space.

The residential building will house 425-450 apartments across eight stories. A separate senior living and memory care facility will have 165 units.

This seems like quite a nice proposal. The only element missing is retail--it would be great to see some restaurants and stores on the ground floor of all the buildings. However, Santana Row and Valley Fair are less than a mile away so this is not as critical for this particular area.

Source: SVBJ

Google Mega Campus Updates

Google has received unanimous approval from the planning commission to build its massive campus around Diridon. The final step is City Council approval on May 25th, which is all but assured at this point. 

The overall scope of the is staggering--it's the largest proposal in history for Downtown and perhaps all of Silicon Valley. The first phase alone includes 4.17 million SQFT of office space, 3,130 homes, and several new community plazas. That phase is just HALF of the project. Even more impressive, developers will get the opportunity to build up to 6.4 million SQFT of office space, 7,000 housing units, and 536,000 SQFT of retail around Google's project. Collectively, the area will be called "Downtown West."

Building heights will range from 170 feet o 295 feet. Construction on city streets and infrastructure is slated for 2022 and will take until at least until 2031 to complete the entire project. When complete, this will be Google's largest campus in the world.

As a side note, Google has also promised $200M in community benefits if the Downtown West plan comes to fruition. This includes homeless services, job opportunities for local residents, five acres of new parks and trails available to all, and affordable housing.

Sources: SVBJ, SVBJ(2), Urban Catalyst

Urban Catalyst announces Fund II

Urban Catalyst, one of Downtown San Jose's premier developers, has officially started fundraising for their second round of projects. 

Fund I included multiple projects spanning office space (such as the former Camera 12 Theater), student housing, senior housing, and a hotel. Fund I was so successful it was actually oversubscribed in terms of investment. Their goal was to raise $105 million and they closed funding with $131 million on December 30th of last year.

Fund II involves two large projects, Icon and Echo. One is a residential high-rise with 300 apartments while the other consists of modern office space with large floor plates adding up to 420,000 SQFT. Both will be steps from City Hall and one of our future BART stations. They seem to be around 20 stories and likely reach the maximum height legally allowed.

If you would like to invest in Fund II, you might have to reach deep in your pockets since the minimum investment is $250,000. At least Fund II doesn't close until the end of 2024, giving you some extra time to look under the couch cushions. Construction on the projects is expected to begin in 2022, even before funding officially closes.

For more information and some renders, check out the short video below. If you have your checkbook handy, you can click here.

Market Park could bring thousands of homes and an office compound to North San Jose

A massive transit village has been proposed for the San Jose Flea Market right next to our new BART station. This is already the site of our largest project that is currently under construction. How massive you ask? The developers are looking to build 3,450 residential units and 3.4 MILLION square feet of commercial space. To put that in perspective that is roughly half of all the office space the exists in Downtown San Jose today.

The commercial component would be spread across seven buildings and three parking structures. The residential piece could utilize high-rises as tall as 200 feet, would would be very noticeable for the area. Other nearby amenities would include a plaza, pop-up retail space, an urban garden, a 1.4-acre rec area, tennis course, and a mini baseball field.

The bad news is that the Flea Market would be demolished to make way for the 61.5-acre project. There would be 150,000 SQFT of ground-floor retail and restaurants in the transit village, but it would not quite make up for losing a San Jose icon. However, given the vast increase in jobs, tax dollars, and density near transit--this project should be an easy approval by the city.

Source: SVBJ

Google unveils more of its plans for Downtown San Jose

Last week, Google released additional renders and details about their plan for Downtown San Jose. The project is one of the largest and most ambitious in the Bay Area's history. It would involve 7.3 million SQFT of office space, 4,000 new homes, half a million SQFT of retail and art space, 15 acres of parks and open space, and zero net CO2 emissions.

One of the most exciting components is that 65% of the campus will be accessible to the public. Instead of being a fortress that only Googlers can access, many of the amenities will be open for everyone to enjoy, including those 15 acres of new parks and open space.

The scale is unlike anything we have ever seen. Google is planning to build 30 new buildings! Eventually it could support up to 25,000 employees. You can get an idea below of what this might look like below. If you have the time, it's worth watching the full 40 minute video that Google put together to showcase the latest version of the project (also below).

Source: Engadget

New office building coming to North San Jose

LBA Realty has submitted plans for a new 125,000 SQFT four-story building near West Trimble Road in North San Jose. Amenities include two urban gardens, an amphitheater, a grove, and a greenroof terrace on the fourth floor.

This building is designed to compliment another approved 10-building project called NorthTown right next door which would span 1.28 million SQFT.

While the timing may seem off given the whole COVID situation, now is actually a great time to build preparing for a major rebound in 2021 or 2022. A lot of people (myself included) are missing going into the office and interacting with coworkers face-to-face.

Source: SVBJ

Mixed-use "Fountain Alley" project moves forward and includes a surprise

Urban Catalyst, which is quickly becoming my favorite Downtown developer, is moving forward with a special project in the historic Fountain Alley district. They are turning what used to be Lido Nightclub into a six story building with retail on the ground floor, five stories of office space, and a rooftop bar. Since Scott's seafood relocated, there are no options I'm aware of where you can grab food or a drink more than a floor off the ground besides the Capital Club.

The office lobby will start in the historic Knox-Goodrich building next door, which is 130 years old and will be fully incorporated into this development. This is an excellent way to preserve our history while still developing Downtown San Jose. It reminds me of how our historic post office was utilized for a cafe and exhibit space in the San Jose Museum of Art.

Another exciting surprise feature that Urban Catalyst is included in the project is a unique fountain. It would seem appropriate for a place called Fountain Alley to have an actual fountain. The goal is a place-making landmark and they have done a ton of research on cool fountains they could bring to the area. The current plan features a fountain modeled after the spectacular Apple store fountain in Milan (last image below).

While it is not the largest development project in Downtown San Jose, it's packed with character. Everything from historic preservation to unique amenities that don't exist in the area are being packing into this five story building that is just a couple hundred feet from the future BART station. This will reshape the historic district forever.

The ground breaking is currently slated for Q2 2021 and completion is expected by mid-2023.

Source: SVBJ

Japantown mixed-use development proposal

Downtown San Jose receives most of the attention when it comes to dense high-rise development these days, but there are some interesting proposals outside of the area. For example, there is a new project on the table in Japantown that would include multiple towers on the area bound by Taylor Street, Miller Street, George Street, and North First Street. It would include a 210 foot tall tower with 244 apartments, 61,000 SQFT of office space, 5,560 SQFT of retail, and 731 parking spaces.

The project would also be right in the middle of the North 1st Street Local Transit Village Plan, which will hopefully accommodate thousands of new homes and jobs in the future. Currently the area houses a surface parking lot and a one-story office building. This would be a major upgrade for the area.

If all goes well this could be approved by the City Council later this year or in Q1 of 2021. It would then take at least a couple more years to build.

Source: SVBJ