Mcdonald’s to close busy S.J. restaurant
SAN JOSE >> Mcdonald’s has decided to close a decades-old restaurant in San Jose after being unable to craft a new lease on a site that’s ripe for future development, the fast food titan said.
The Mcdonald’s restaurant, located at 2040 N. First St. in San Jose, is slated to close at the end of September, ending 40 years of operations at that location, which is in the center of one of Silicon Valley’s prime tech hubs and around the corner from a future huge campus for Google.
“Despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an agreement with the landlord, who intends to sell the property for redevelopment and therefore was unable to extend the lease terms,” Mcdonald’s said.
The property owners of the restaurant site also own an adjacent parcel where an E-Z 8 Motel operates at 2050 N. First St. The two parcels could be combined into a roughly threeacre, rectangular site.
The combined parcels would have plenty of frontage on North First Street, one of San Jose’s busiest thoroughfares.
“It’s not every day that you see a fast-food site be redeveloped,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy. “It looks like it would be part of a larger assemblage of property.”
Plus, the restaurant site is next to the light rail
tracks, making it convenient to mass transit.
“We are saddened that the restaurant will close permanently on September 30th,” Mcdonald’s said.
That Mcdonald’s opened in October 1980.
The North First Street Mcdonald’s was the scene of a strike in April by workers who were seeking safer employment conditions, heightened sanitation measures, and improved social distancing protocols amid concerns about coronavirus-linked exposures.
Chicago-based Mcdonald’s said that its lease at 2040 N. First St. was slated to expire around Oct. 16. Despite intense negotiations, it became clear that the talks wouldn’t result in a lease acceptable to both the landlord and the tenant.
“Our people are the heart and soul of Mcdonald’s, and we are taking steps to support the impacted employees during this difficult time, including extending benefits and payroll for a period of time.”
The site is around the
corner from where Google has leased a huge office campus from legendary development firm Peery Arrillaga at the intersection of North First Street and East Brokaw Road.
Google’s proximity, the tech hubs of north San Jose, and the busy transportation and transit corridor of North First Street increase the value of sites such as this one.
For these reasons, it makes sense that a developer might be interested in a land assembly at the McDonald’s site and nearby parcels.
The Walnut Grove-based Angela Maestri Calabrese family trust owns the McDonald’s site and the E-Z 8 Motel parcel next to it. Other nearby owners are Technology Credit Union, Ajesh Hospitality, and Esa P Portfolio.
“This is a very good sign that the development appetite hasn’t slowed down for north San Jose,” Staedler said.