Construction halts on huge tech campus
Shaky market for offices means setback for revitalization of downtown
Construction has paused on a huge tech campus in downtown San Jose amid a feeble Bay Area office sector, dealing a fresh blow to the city's already wobbly urban heart.
Boston Properties hit the pause button on its Platform 16 project in downtown San Jose, the real estate titan's top boss told Wall Street analysts during a conference call this past week.
“Unfortunately, market conditions in the Silicon Valley, including San Jose, have deteriorated meaningfully,” Owen Thomas, chief executive officer of Boston Properties, said during the call to discuss the company's quarterly financial results.
The move could spell yet another setback to San Jose's downtown aspirations as civic leaders scramble to reinvigorate an urban core hollowed out by a once-in-ageneration pandemic. It comes on the heels of Google's announcement in February that it was reassessing the timeline for its sprawling Downtown West project.
“Everyone needs to face reality and say, in the 21st century economy in Silicon Valley, where people don't go to the office anymore, what are we going to do with these communities we've been building for the last 100 years,” said Kelly Snider, a professor with San Jose State University's Department of Urban and Regional Planning.
The Platform 16 campus at 440 W. Julian St. between Autumn Parkway and North Autumn Street would total 1.1 million square feet and consist of three buildings if eventually completed.
The project is next to sites where Google said it intends to develop its Downtown West neighborhood near the Diridon train station and SAP Center, a mass of office buildings, homes, shops, restaurants, entertainment hubs, cultural loops, open spaces and hotel facilities.
Even in the face of rising office vacancy rates and a surge in sublease space placed on the market by tech companies, San Jose officials said they are ready to help Boston Properties in “relaunching construction when the time