Downtown tech campus construction launch eyed
SAN JOSE >> A huge tech campus that will sprout on nearly a full city block of downtown San Jose is slated to get underway this year with demolition scheduled within the next few months on a portion of the choice parcel.
Developer Jay Paul Co. is poised to launch construction of a vast tech campus in downtown San Jose that would replace the outmoded but strategically located CityView Plaza, with the demolition of one or more buildings to make way for the project.
“We anticipate commencing demolition sometime this fall on CityView,” said Matt Lituchy, chief investment officer with Jay Paul Co. a veteran development firm.
The project is expected to total 3.6 million square feet and feature a trio of 19-story office towers, along with 24,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, according to city documents.
The retail in CityView Plaza could potentially include shops as well as restaurants and could spur pedestrian activity on the adjacent streets.
About two months ago, Jay Paul Co. gained final approval to redevelop the CityView property, which is bounded by South Market Street, Park Avenue, South Almaden Boulevard, and West San Fernando Street and is deemed to be one of the most important development sites in downtown San Jose.
The CityView development is across the street from another Jay Paul Co. project, a 19-story office
tower totaling 875,000 square feet at 200 Park Ave.
The 200 Park office tower launched construction in November, and after a coronavirus-linked building hiatus, construction has resumed.
CityView also is a few blocks from the footprint of a proposed transit village next to the Diridon Station and SAP Center that Google is building.
The Google-envisioned project would create a transit-oriented neighborhood of office buildings, homes, restaurants, shops, hotels, cultural hubs, and entertainment centers where the search giant could
employ 25,000 people.
Just around the corner, Adobe is constructing a striking highrise that would dramatically expand the size of the tech titan’s downtown San Jose headquarters campus by adding a fourth office tower to the company’s existing three-building complex.
CityView, when fully built out, potentially could accommodate 17,000 office workers, depending on how coronavirus-linked social-distancing protocols and workplace safety measures play out.
Gensler, an architectural firm, is the project’s designer.
Jay Paul Co. has spent $326 million purchasing the parcels it needs for the CityView development. These included a $284 million deal in 2018 to buy nearly all of the property and a $42 million transaction in April
2020 for an office tower at CityView that includes a Wells Fargo branch on the ground floor.
One site that has yet to be purchased is a property known as the radio station building that’s tucked away in the northwest quadrant of the development.
“We have had discussions with the ownership of the radio station building but we have plans to move forward without that piece,” Lituchy said.
The demolition effort will have to be handled deftly by the Jay Paul firm, according to Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy.
“The demolition of CityView Plaza will not be a simple endeavor,” Staedler said. “The underground parking throughout the site and
various standalone buildings will require a well-thought-out demolition plan.”
Although large buildings must be demolished to clear the site for future development, the structures won’t all be toppled at the same time.
“It would have to come down in phases,” Lituchy said. “I don’t think the plan will be to dynamite the whole thing or implode it all at once. It will be done piecemeal.”
The confidence of the Jay Paul firm is encouraging for the downtown area’s prospects, Staedler opined.
“It is encouraging that Jay Paul is still pushing forward,” Staedler said. “Downtown San Jose needs this more than ever.