Nearly two decades after Cheim Lumber sold its last two-by-four, its almost five-acre site could become a hotbed of wood-frame construction itself.
Fairfield Residential last week turned in a proposal to develop a 315-unit apartment community at 800 W. San Carlos St. The project promises to bring bodies and retail to the key corner at West San Carlos and Sunol Street that in recent years has served as a Hertz truck rental location.
On tap: 23,500 square feet of retail, restaurant and office spaces primarily oriented along the main West San Carlos corridor, San Jose planner Emily Lipoma told me. Preliminary plans show a project ranging from four to seven stories.
The city has been looking to inject new life into the area, with mixed results so far. The biggest piece of that effort, The Ohlone — an 8-acre project with up to 800 units of housing across the street from the Fairfield proposal — has faced numerous challenges lately, and its future is uncertain. The Fairfield proposal represents an entirely new project on a different piece of land.
The old Corporation Yard will be developed to two apartment buildings
Quote:
The subject property was originally developed in the late 1880s as San Jose’s second (third?) Chinatown, named Heinlenville for its owner and benefactor, John Heinlen. Mr. Heinlen retained prominent local architect Theodore Lenzen to design what he and the Chinese merchants intended to be a permanent home for San Jose’s Chinese population. Aware of the history of arson attacks against previous Chinatowns in San Jose, Mr. Heinlen specified that the new Chinatown be built in brick, and was supplied with both piped water and sewers.
By the 1930s, most of the buildings of Heinlenville were vacant. Gradually, the block bounded by Taylor, Jackson, Sixth, and Seventh Streets were taken over by the City of San Jose for use as a corporation yard, and the remains were buried under asphalt and buildings. In 2008, Sonoma State University performed a series of archaeological excavations in limited areas of the project site. These excavations uncovered the remains of houses, restaurants, and stores, as well as those of Heinlenville’s original Ng Shing Gung Temple
The area around the the Chinatown became Japantown as it was the only area where Japanese immigrants could settle without being hassled.
Quote:
A “Great Good Place” in the Heart of Japantown
San Jose’s most unique urban neighborhood will soon be home to one of its most unique developments. A place where residents and visitors can pick up fresh offerings from local farmers, browse an eclectic mix of local shops, restaurants and boutiques, and gather to watch an impromptu practice session of world-renowned San Jose Taiko. Japantown Square will create what the community has envisioned as a “Great Good Place” – residences, local retail, and a new home for San Jose Taiko and local arts organizations - all oriented around a new public park and plaza.
Japantown Square will bring world-class urban design, modern urban living, new local shops, and a home for the beloved San Jose Taiko to the heart of Japantown. When complete, the project will include:
Approximately 532 modern apartments in two buildings, including top-of-class resident amenities
Up to 20,300 square feet of new neighborhood-serving commercial space
The new Creative Center for the Arts with up to 60,000 square feet of arts-related space, including a new home for San Jose Taiko
A new ¾-acre public park and plaza capable of hosting public events including community festivals and the weekly Farmers Market
Approximately 827 new parking spaces to serve residents, commercial tenants and the Creative Center for the Arts
Exclusive: Wolff, DiNapoli set stage for downtown San Jose's next office tower
Lew Wolff and Phil DiNapoli have developed in downtown San Jose for decades, building some of its most recognizable projects. But it’s been years since they've taken on a new project in the central business district.
That hiatus ended this week. On Wednesday, they submitted plans for a 725,000-square-foot tower at 333 W. San Fernando St. The 2.5-acre site, currently a parking lot and small light-industrial building, has long been owned by the partnership. But Wolff said it finally makes sense to start thinking of higher and better uses for the land.
“I’ve always felt downtown needed at least one more, and hopefully more than one, large-space user,” Wolff, who also co-owns the San Jose Fairmont Hotel, said in an interview. “Now downtown San Jose has become in the gunsights of many users where it wasn’t a year ago.”
Silvery Towers, cranes are up but its still a hole in the ground:
More of the construction fencing being removed on the new courthouse:
In terms of the Julian St realignment/new street grid, it feels to me like they're taking a "just tear this shit up and rebuild it from scratch" approach, which I suppose makes some sense:
Some progress finally being made on the Autumn st extension (after more or less being idle for a few years):
Exclusive: As downtown San Jose's Ross store prepares to go dark, tower plans wait in the wings
Faced with the loss of Ross Dress for Less at his downtown San Jose property, developer Mike Sarimsakci examined the prospects for filling the roughly 30,000-square-foot space with another retailer. It didn't take long to decide on a surer — if seemingly more complicated — course: Redeveloping the site into the city's next high-rise apartment tower.
"We've always wanted to do this project, but I think we were waiting for the right time. It's at the right time," Sarimsakci, who heads up Dallas-based developer Alterra International, told me in a phone call from Istanbul on Monday night. "We're departing amicably with Ross, and the market conditions are such that if we miss the cycle, we'll end up waiting maybe another 10 years. That could be too late."
Earlier this month, Sarimsakci submitted preliminary plans for a 24-story modernist apartment tower for the site, a 24,000-square-foot parcel at 27 S. First Street, smack dab in the downtown's historic district. The project would include 324 units and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, replacing a site that's been home to Ross since 2009. The chain announced several weeks ago — after months of rumors — that it will be closing the store this summer, exercising an exit clause in its lease agreement to leave early.
Prev
Linear Mode
