Developers buy old restaurant site in downtown San Jose
Group also planning project with three residential towers, commercial space
SAN JOSE » The site of a longtime restaurant in downtown San Jose has been bought by the development group that is planning a big new project that will feature three residential towers and new commercial spaces.
The property featuring the old Emile’s restaurant, a wellknown downtown dining establishment that offered French cuisine, was bought for $3.6 million on Nov. 9, Santa Clara County property records show. The sale involved two parcels with addresses at 545 S. Second St. and 540 S. First St.
The parcels will be part of the Invicta Towers mixeduse project, according to Erik Schoennauer, principal executive and partner with Schoennauer Company, a land-use and planning consultancy that is advising the project’s developers.
The Invicta complex is expected to become a key component of the increasingly lively South First Area, or SoFA district, of downtown San Jose.
The development would consist of more than 1 million square feet of space. It would include 667 residential units in three towers, a new liveperformance art theater, and public arts spaces, along with the retail and dining.
“Invicta is going to significantly activate the streets of the SoFA district,” Schoen- nauer said.
The project is proposed for part of a block near East William and South Second streets, and also has some frontage on South First Street. Knowhere Holdings, whose principal executives and partners are Bryan Robertson and Mircea Voskerician, is developing the project, and Knowhere executives anticipate the existing City Lights Theater would be part of the project.
Arnie Kamrin, a local property owner, has been working with contractor and developer Greg Bock, as well as broker Jim McArthur of Intero Commercial, to assemble the parcels needed for the Invicta complex.
“The Emile’s site was always going to be part of the development,” Schoennauer said.
Invicta Towers is one of a growing number of recent major development projects
proposed for downtown San Jose since Google’s property purchases on the western edge of downtown for a massive proposed transit village helped to spur interest in all sorts of new property ventures.
The city unveiled the broad strokes of Google’s plan in June 2017, and a flurry of real estate deals and development plans for the downtown soon followed. Plus, downtown’s current biggest tech titan, Adobe Systems, plans to dramatically expand its downtown San Jose headquarters campus with a new office tower.
Over the 12 months that ended in September, investors unleashed a buying binge in downtown San Jose that totaled at least $1.43 billion, according to Santa Clara County public records and this news organization’s analysis of the transactions.
The buying activity in downtown San Jose over the recent 12 months is nearly three times as much as the $484 million buyers spent on downtown properties over the prior one-year period that ended in September 2017.
The prospect of tech company expansions in downtown San Jose has buoyed the prospects for complexes such as Invicta.
“Invicta Towers will bring hundreds of new residents to the area, as well as new businesses, retail and arts spaces for a street-level activation,” Schoennauer said.