Hotel project planned near Mineta airport
City officials encourage development to accommodate increase of travelers
SAN JOSE >> Developers have proposed demolishing some buildings in north San Jose to make way for construction of a new fivestory hotel, which would serve the airport area.
The hotel, which is planned as a Hilton Garden Inn, would be built at 111 E. Gish Road, according to documents filed with San Jose planners.
“It’s almost intuitive to develop a hotel in this area because it’s so close to the airport,” said Donovan Cole, a development manager with San Mateo-based Westlake Urban, the project’s developer. “This would be a middle-of-the-road product for business travelers.”
Depending on the speed of the city approval process, the hotel could open by late 2019 or early 2020, Cole said.
“We are starting to see a little hotel district in that part of San Jose,” Cole said.
The area already has a 600room hotel at the Casino M8trix and a 505-room DoubleTree hotel. Other nearby hotels include a Wyndham Garden, Four Points by Sheraton, Springhill Suites and Marriott Residence Inn.
The city also has approved a 329-room Hyatt Place hotel on Karina Court near North First Street, a short distance from the PayPal headquarters. And a Bay 101 Casino project will include a 174-room hotel, city documents show.
“The economy is doing really well in Silicon Valley, and you hear about all the expansions being planned by Apple and Google,” Cole said. “Apple has grabbed up a lot of properties in north San Jose.”
Cupertino-based Apple has bought and leased buildings and vacant land so it could develop a large campus in north San Jose. Mountain View-based Google is planning a massive tech
“It’s almost intuitive to develop a hotel in this area because it’s so close to the airport.”
— Donovan Cole, development manager with Westlake Urban
campus near a downtown San Jose train station where 15,000 to 20,000 of the company’s employees could work.
Cole also pointed to the upgrades and expansions at the nearby Mineta San Jose International Airport as another factor that favors new hotel construction.
City officials have been encouraging the building of new hotels in the area.
“We know we are underserved by hotels in north San Jose,” said Nanci Klein, the city’s deputy director for economic development.
The hotel project would have to be vetted by staffers and policy makers before it can proceed.
In addition, the developers intend to demolish an existing two-story, 57,000-square-foot office building that appears to have multiple vacancies.