Eateries, communal area planned across from San Jose’s Valley Fair mall
Idea stems from creating an urban village in the area
SAN JOSE >> Restaurants and a new gathering area are being planned on what could be a hot corner across the street from the bustling Westfield Valley Fair mall, according to plans shared Thursday with city officials.
The development would add restaurant spaces to the ground floor of an existing building, along with revamped exteriors. The project also would immediately create a new food-oriented
plaza directly across from a future Bloomingdale’s store at the mall, currently undergoing a major expansion.
“This will be an exciting community gathering area,”
said Don Tepman, founder and president of University Avenue Partners, the principal developer of the project, which is called The Corner. “We started this by following the city’s playbook of creating an urban village in the area.”
What’s more, the site, at the southeast corner of Ste-
vens Creek Boulevard and South Baywood Avenue, could gain even more visibility and popularity once the current Baywood street is extended directly into the mall.
“This will be the hot corner on the street that leads into Valley Fair,” Tepman said. “There will be unique architecture, restaurant spaces, a place where people can go hang out even if they don’t want to go into the restaurant. It will be a cool, fun place for the community to hang out.”
Public artwork would also be part of the development.
Three to six restaurants could likely make up the dining elements of The Corner, depending on their size and type.
“We want a wide variety
of dining, we want highend cuisine, a steakhouse, fast casual, hopefully a coffee shop,” Tepman said.
The Corner would be within an easy walk of both Santana Row and Valley Fair.
“It could create a new restaurant row for this part of San Jose,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with San Josebased Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy. “This is a phenomenal site. A lot of places say they are right next to Valley Fair or Santana Row, and this location actually fits the bill.”
Numerous restaurants wanted to get into the new Valley Fair mall, but as is typical of such a topflight mall, especially one undergoing a major expansion and renovation, not everyone received approval to get into the shopping center.
“The demand for restaurants
to get into Westfield Valley Fair is wildly off the charts, the demand to get into Santana Row is off the charts,” Tepman said. “We have been getting phone calls from major national restaurant chains to get into our project. The Corner will be a front-row seat to Valley Fair.”
The ground-floor restaurant space would likely total 20,000 square feet. Fine dining restaurants could typically range in size from 6,000 to 8,000 square feet, a steakhouse might be 7,000 square feet, fast casual restaurants might need 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, and a coffee shop might be 1,500 square feet, Tepman estimated.
“This is one of the best restaurant corners you can find in the Bay Area,” Tepman said. “There is just not a lot of available space for restaurants in this area.”
The Corner development, once complete and filled with restaurants, also would create additional amenities for the existing office tenants on the site, which is owned by University Avenue Partners.
“You look at what is go- ing on with Valley Fair and Santana Row, how Hotel Valencia is constantly booked; this can be a phenomenal project,” Staedler said.
If San Jose city officials approve the project, Tepman believes his group could break ground by the summer of 2019.
“For me, this is a personal legacy project,” Tepman said. “I grew up going to Valley Fair mall, my first job was at the San Jose arena, I grew up in San Jose. I want to do something here that is truly breathtaking.”