Group seeks to preserve building and stop project
SAN JOSl >> A preservationist group is seeking a court order to undo the city of San Jose’s approval of a vast redevelopment of a key block downtown and halt the bulldozing of a building constructed in the early 1970s, court papers show.
A redevelopment of CityView Plaza is thought to be a gamechanger for downtown San Jose, a project that could bring 14,000 or more jobs to the city’s urban core.
The Preservation Action Council of San Jose, however, raised concerns in a court filing about the potential razing of the Bank of California building as part of a proposal to create a modern tech campus that would replace the outmoded CityView Plaza in
downtown San Jose.
The building at 170 Park Ave., constructed in 1973, is an architectural example of brutalism, a minimalist style that emerged in Great Britain during the 1950s when the nation was attempting to quickly and inexpensively reconstruct neighborhoods that were shattered during World War II.
“Preser vation Action Council of San Jose challenges the City of San Jose’s approval of the CityView Plaza Project, which would needlessly demolish significant historic resources in the guise of progress,” according to the group’s request for a court order stopping the project.
A settlement conference is slated for Oct. 27 in Santa Clara County Superior Court. The group seeks to use the California Environment Quality Act, or CEQ A, to challenge the city’s June 2020 decision that approved the CityView redevelopment.
“They don’t call it ‘ brutalist’ architecture for nothing,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said Tuesday. “It’s the kind of building only a CEQA lawyer could love.”
The preservation group believes the redeveloped
city block could be woven together with the existing Bank of California structure, according to the petition.
“The building can and should be incorporated into any new project on the CityView Plaza site, which is large enough to accommodate significant new construction without sacrificing one of the City’s most distinctive buildings,” the Preservation Action Council said in the filing. The group is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and promoting “historically significant resources in San Jose,” its website states.
The group cited the court filing and declined further comment.
The bank building occupies 0.5 acres of the 8.1-acre CityView Plaza site.
The preservationist group hopes the court will set aside the city’s approval of the project and launch a new environmental impact report.
These outcomes would likely force a dramatic slowdown in the construction of the project, which is bounded by Park Avenue, Almaden Boulevard, West San Fernando Street, and South Market Street.
Jay Paul Co., the developer of the CityView project, envisions the development as an iconic addition to downtown San Jose’s modest skyline.
A big tech company is thought to be a candidate to lease big chunks of CityView Plaza, or the adjacent 200 Park office tower, which Jay Paul Co. is constructing across the street on the south side of Park Avenue.
Once complete, CityView Plaza 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.
An executive with Jay Paul has previously said the company was planning to begin demolition of at least a portion of the site by the end of this year.
The preservation group’s petition seeks “substantial compensatory mitigation” to protect unspecified other San Jose buildings, as well as funding for historic surveys whose parameters weren’t defined.
San Jose’s mayor, however, believes the city would be better served overall with a landmark tech campus of new offices, restaurants, and thousands of jobs. Liccardo suggested only a small group of preservationists supports the brutalist bank building.
“The rest of our community is thrilled to see it go,” Liccardo said.