Developers grab property near proposed village site
Investors plan high-rise hotel on the downtown San Jose lot
SAN JOSE » Real estate investors have grabbed a downtown San Jose property that’s expected to be developed as a high-rise hotel, providing a lodging site next to the planned Google transit village.
Diridon Hospitality paid $4 million for the property at the corner of Stockton Avenue andWest Julian Avenue, according to Santa Clara County property records. Diridon Hospitality, an affiliate of Dallas-based Kade Development, paid cash, the records show. The seller was the San Jose Redevelopment Agency.
The deal provides a fresh sign of the Google effect that appears to be spurring a variety of downtown San Jose development efforts.
“If you look at the site right now, it does’t necessarily show itself as a hotel development property,” said Dharmesh Patel, an executive managing director for hotelswith Colliers International, a commercial realty brokerage. “But with the
Diridon Station project, the Google development, Trammell Crow, TMG, Adobe expansions, when all that comes to fruition, this hotel would be smack dab in the middle of that activity.”
Investors are increasingly eyeing downtown San Jose given the prospect of 15,000 to 20,000 Google employees working a short distance from the Diridon train station. The station eventually will be a hub for BART and high-speed rail stops, along with existing light-rail, Caltrain, Amtrak and ACE Train connections.
“If the other stuff gets developed, this hotel site would be easily walkable to Diridon Station, the SAP Center and the Google village,” Patel said.
The West Julian and Stockton site is expected to feature a nine- to 10-story hotel with 220 rooms, according to Alan Reay, principal executive with Atlas Hospitality, which tracks the California lodging market.
“If you look at what is happening in downtown San Jose generally, whether it is hospitality, retail, residential, dining, when you have all that activity, plus the potential of the Google campus, it can completely revitalize an area,” Reay said. “You also getmore hotel projects like this.”
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo didn’t want to discuss the project, but did say downtown is expected to draw a variety of developments and investments.
“We envision a broad array of uses next to and around the transit village that Google is planning,” Liccardo said Thursday.
Mountain View- based