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San José Development News

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
San Jose Development News



San Jose Skyline Panoramic by SkylineScenes (Bill Cobb), on Flickr


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Will downtown San Jose ever develop the type of height and density of the downtowns in San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento?
 
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#7,722 ·
If you want to talk about social engineering of the worst degree, this isn't in that category. This is one building, proposed as a short-term option for an immediate problem. This is not turning blocks and blocks in to the Warsaw ghettos or in to housing projects or in to Chinese ghost cities. And right now, no-one but Hillrise has admitted that, given the city's financial condition, this is perhaps the least bad option. Right now, we provide services at great cost and little lasting effect.

I'm not a fan of this action--this particular location is very valuable for office and residential development, both on its own and as a key component of the DT fabric--but I also don't see a superior alternative that actually has a chance of fulfilling its mission.
First of all, the RDA bought this building in 2008 for $1.9 Mil. (clearly overpaid IMHO) under the premise and the intent to incorporate it into a future redevelopment of the adjacent Greyhound site i.e. appealing/incentivizing the future developer(s), which makes sense. Secondly, LRPMP from Feb last year stated the property in question (Property #21 out of 103: http://www.sjredevelopment.org/realestate/LRPMP/LRPMP.pdf) is TO BE SOLD (not retained for governmental use, future development and/or retained to fulfill an enforceable obligation).

Care to guess who got shafted, twice?
 
#7,729 ·
I can't believe no one has posted this yet... First huge development proposal for Diridon... 800k sqft of Class A office, 325 residential units, and retail. The old Adobe parking lots via Nate SVBJ http://bizj.us/1jdehs
9-12 stories, >2k underground parking, retail, offices, residential.... This is exactly what the area needs!
 
#7,730 ·
I can't believe no one has posted this yet... First huge development proposal for Diridon... 800k sqft of Class A office, 325 residential units, and retail. The old Adobe parking lots via Nate SVBJ http://bizj.us/1jdehs
^^
...
“Diridon Station has been a sleeper, but it’s actually the most robust transit hub in all of Northern California,” said Don Little, a Trammell Crow senior vice president and the project lead. "Think of all the people you access and housing markets you open up. There’s no multimodal node like that here."


...

Trammell’s designs for the land are still being refined, but executives anticipate developing about 800,000 square feet of office in two buildings rising 10 to 12 stories, and 325 apartment units in a nine-story building. The site, which fronts West Santa Street kitty corner from SAP Center, would be sprinkled with shops and restaurants and include a large public plaza along West Santa Clara Street. The historic San Jose Water Company building would be renovated and repurposed, possibly as an entertainment-focused retail space.

...

Trammell, which has developed more than $60 billion worth of real estate over its nearly 70-year history, was searching for a major transit-oriented development site next to Caltrain up and down the Peninsula, Little said. Executives quickly honed in on the Adobe land, attracted to its large size and Diridon’s frequent “Baby Bullet” Caltrain service, the line’s semi-express mode.
“It’s the largest block of square feet that will be built anywhere between here and San Francisco that is transit-friendly,” said Dave Sandlin, a Colliers International broker who represented Trammell in the deal. (Adobe was represented by Carter Beim, also of Colliers International.)
But developers grew even more fond of the location when they looked at the broader transit connections, including Altamont Commuter Express, Capital Corridor, VTA light rail and — eventually — BART and high-speed rail.

...

Still, Trammell’s bet isn’t without risk. Downtown San Jose’s office market is improving, but occupancy remains high — about 16 percent in the second quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield (formerly DTZ). And rents, at $3.14 per square foot for Class A space, are still not generally considered high enough to make financial sense.
Trammell’s belief is that #Diridon will be able to command a whole different price point because it’s offering something new in the downtown area: Large-format floor plates of about 40,000 square feet, which are all the rage in the tech sector and don’t exist in the district — plus the transit access. Trammell will probably need to achieve office rents in the $4 range to make it work, observers said.

...
I've been saying this for years the area right next to Diridon is ideal for office since it has a quick commute from far up and down the Peninsula, East Bay, Tri-valley, and in 10-25 years BART will add way more frequency to the East Bay services. In the interim VTA will have a bus from BART to Downtown + Diridon starting when the Berryessa BART opens in late 2017/early 2018. The lots allow for large floor plates, I hope the Caltrain parking will be next, though it will probably have to wait for BART to be built, but I could imagine one large parking garage and several offices. I wonder if it would make sense just to build BART, then have a large parking structure, with 2 underground levels, 6 above ground levels, and no other parking, 4 floors of office above the parking garage, basically just one large structure for all the area, so not every lot has to figure out how to do parking.
 
#7,731 ·
^^


I've been saying this for years the area right next to Diridon is ideal for office since it has a quick commute from far up and down the Peninsula, East Bay, Tri-valley, and in 10-25 years BART will add way more frequency to the East Bay services. In the interim VTA will have a bus from BART to Downtown + Diridon starting when the Berryessa BART opens in late 2017/early 2018. The lots allow for large floor plates, I hope the Caltrain parking will be next, though it will probably have to wait for BART to be built, but I could imagine one large parking garage and several offices. I wonder if it would make sense just to build BART, then have a large parking structure, with 2 underground levels, 6 above ground levels, and no other parking, 4 floors of office above the parking garage, basically just one large structure for all the area, so not every lot has to figure out how to do parking.
Apparently the parking structure is no longer in the plans:

Sustainable Bay Area ‏@abetterbayarea
Is this parking lot necessary in a big PDA @vta @DaveCortese @sliccardo ? http://t.co/IZXcnEn6qD
11:16 AM - 11 Aug 2015

VTA ‏@VTA
@abetterbayarea @DaveCortese @sliccardo parking structure is no longer in the plans for Diridon, it will be managed comprehensively ^BP
11:52 AM - 14 Aug 2015
 
#7,732 ·
Apparently the parking structure is no longer in the plans:
I don't really want a parking garage for the sake of having a parking garage, I think it would be good to have one in-lieu of having every individual lot owner have to provide on-site parking for every development, if they can recompense the city for the cost of some of the parking spaces, or a developer build all the parking on one site, and get recompensed for the cost of parking by the other developers, then it would reduce construction costs, presumably. I also think it would increase the walkability of the neighborhood if there doesn't have to be a drive way for every building, just one or two for one parking garage. It could even have the 1st floor be all retail.

When I worked in downtown MV, and now that I work in downtown PA, neither office had parking on-site. I had to park in a garage, I think the city mandating on-site parking is not wise.
 
#7,733 ·
I don't really want a parking garage for the sake of having a parking garage, I think it would be good to have one in-lieu of having every individual lot owner have to provide on-site parking for every development, if they can recompense the city for the cost of some of the parking spaces, or a developer build all the parking on one site, and get recompensed for the cost of parking by the other developers, then it would reduce construction costs, presumably. I also think it would increase the walkability of the neighborhood if there doesn't have to be a drive way for every building, just one or two for one parking garage. It could even have the 1st floor be all retail.

When I worked in downtown MV, and now that I work in downtown PA, neither office had parking on-site. I had to park in a garage, I think the city mandating on-site parking is not wise.
+1 to this. It's basically how all the major cities I go to end up solving their parking issues
 
#7,734 · (Edited)
I can't believe no one has posted this yet... First huge development proposal for Diridon... 800k sqft of Class A office, 325 residential units, and retail. The old Adobe parking lots via Nate SVBJ http://bizj.us/1jdehs

Awesome news! I hope this means Diridon will become the second busiest caltrain station in 5 years (moving up from 4th place).

I wonder if this adds pressure to get the Brokaw-101 and Coleman Highline sites to build out soon - I doubt either of them can compete with this site.
OTOH I hope the market isnt cool enough that they just sit on it until this thing gets done & leased.

3 tallish bldgs with a nice design will help "bring" the western end of downtown closer to the core -

The building is feature floor plates of up to 40,000 square feet in two buildings 10 and 12 stories high with 15 foot floor-to-floor solid glass curtain walls on floors 2 and higher
http://news.theregistrysf.com/tramm...uire-development-site-in-san-jose-for-58-5mm/

Shell complete in Q2 2017.
http://www.colliers.com/en-us/sanjosesiliconvalley/properties/p-cpusa1016179441/diridon
 
#7,737 ·
I can't believe no one has posted this yet... First huge development proposal for Diridon... 800k sqft of Class A office, 325 residential units, and retail. The old Adobe parking lots via Nate SVBJ http://bizj.us/1jdehs
I hope the creek gets a nice treatment...which means I hope it becomes a central part of the design...maybe some creekside restaurants and bars?
 
#7,738 ·
I like your thinking! Can't wait to see their renders and how they will incorporate the retail aspects of the development into the project. Restaurants & bars along the edge of the Guadalupe river sounds intriguing.
If they do it right, this could become a mini San Pedro Square II.
Great idea, as long as the river is actually there!
 
#7,739 ·
With predictions of a massive El Nino this winter, we could once again have a real river running thru DTSJ!
Also, since this is the third mixed use development announced for DTSJ within the last 2 months, why not make predictions for a fourth mixed use development --- just a wild guess --- but the placeholders of the Boston Properties site on Almaden Blvd. may finally be motivated to take the plunge.
I wish this were true...

I wish Boston Properties would sell that site. They are always very negative when they mention San Jose.
 
#7,740 ·
When I worked in downtown MV, and now that I work in downtown PA, neither office had parking on-site. I had to park in a garage, I think the city mandating on-site parking is not wise.
At least with the case in DTMV, many of the small restaurants (Castro street's main attractions) can't afford to provide on-site parking. Of course. ;)
And I think that the restaurant row is one of the things that attracts the high-tech offices to DTMV.

And now... back to DTSJ. :lol:
 
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