By Meghan Hall
The Northern California hotel market continues to boom, as the region draws not only millions of tourists annually, but many business travelers as well. As a result, hotel construction continues at a near record-breaking pace, according to experts, with large institutional and private investors alike looking to capitalize on the region’s booming hospitality industry. Like many growing Bay Area municipalities, the city of San Jose has allotted for the development of nearly 3,600 hotel rooms by 2040 in downtown San Jose alone. Plans for a 106 -room hotel will contribute to that goal if approved by the San Jose City Council in the coming months.
Proposed by a private developer—referred to as Richmond, Calif.-based Krishna Hotel San Jose LLC and associated with Mr. Rajen Patel of Milpitas—the project will be located at 605 South Second Street. In all, its footprint will total 90,623 square feet. In addition to the guest rooms, two levels of underground parking, are included. Hotel offices and maintenance rooms would be located on the first floor, while a meeting room and fitness center will be placed on level two. A 265 square foot outdoor patio for hotel patrons will provide an exterior amenity at the northeast corner of the site, near the intersection of East Reed and South Second streets.
The 0.3-acre property is currently vacant and has been most recently used as a staging area for multifamily residential development across East Reed Street. Originally, the site was developed with the Cantella Methodist Church and Menker Social Hall. The church was removed in the 1950s after a fire, while the social hall and parking lot remained until their demolition before 2000.
Right off of Interstate 280, the property uses surrounding the site are a mix of commercial and residential. The City Center Motel is located across East Reed Street to the north of the property, while the Lima-Champagna-Alameda Mission Chapel is to the east. Notre Dame High School, a private all-girls Catholic School, is adjacent to the property across South Second and East Reed.
The hotel will be located in San Jose’s up-and-coming SoFA (South First Area), long known as an arts, cultural and entertainment hub. The district is home to numerous galleries, nonprofits and cultural institution. However, while the development throughout the rest of San Jose has taken off, SoFA has struggled to grow since the 1970s. New development, such as the 605 South Second Street Hotel, will generate refreshed traffic to the area as well as support the operations of the McEnery Convention Center, located just several blocks away.
The new hotel and the SoFA neighborhood will also be helped along by the expected delivery of a 130-unit mixed-use development at 477 S. Market Street, which has been proposed by Acquity Realty, Inc. The project will include 6,000 square feet of ground level-retail.
On a wider scale throughout downtown San Jose, hotel development is surging. KT Urban recently increased its plans for a hotel at 8 North Almaden Boulevard from 220 to 330 rooms, while Khanna Properties Ltd. has proposed at 274-room Marriott Hotel that will rise 24 stories above South First Street. The hotel, like 605 South Second, will likely serve traffic from the McEnery Convention Center as well as the City National Civic Center and San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.
As of a February 2019 City of San Jose development report, there are currently more than 1,700 hotel rooms pending entitlement and over 900 rooms that are entitled but have yet to be constructed. The hospitality industry, notes the city, continues to support strong commercial growth throughout San Jose, driving valuation of new commercial construction to $401 million between 2017 and 2018. Hospitality development in particular is expected to remain strong, keeping pace with industrial and office development.
Krishna Hotel San Jose LLC could not be reached for comment.
