By Kate Snyder
More office space is on its way to San Jose. A proposal for a 952,473 square foot office building in the city’s downtown area received approval from the city planning director during a meeting on Feb. 22. The project would be adjacent to Google’s proposed Downtown West and just north of Diridon Station.
Imwalle Properties is the property owner and developer. The designer is Steinberg Hart, an international architecture and design firm with an office in San Jose.
“I want to thank all parties who have carried this project forward since its inception four years ago,” Don Imwalle, president of Imwalle Properties, said during the meeting. “Thank you all for exceeding expectations in all categories, including the very recent work and hard work to affirm that our project has no high-speed rail right-of-way conflicts. We very much look forward to seeing it come to fruition.”
The project site is located at 250 Stockton Ave. on 2.39 acres. The proposal is the construction of a 16-story office building with four levels of underground parking that includes stackers, tandem and valet parking, according to city records. A podium courtyard and landscape garden would be featured on the third floor, and terraces would be on floors four and eight with amenity balconies proposed for floors six to 12 as well as floor 14. Plans also include two driveway access points – one that leads to the underground parking garage and one that provides access to the loading area.
Public comments were generally positive about the project, with one speaker highlighting the need for proper labor standards and the importance of hiring locally. Nate LeBlanc, business development manager with the San Jose Downtown Association, also spoke in favor of the project on behalf of his organization.
“We’d like to express our unequivocal support for this project,” he said. “The teams from both Imwalle and Steinberg Hart have been active and engaged community members, and we appreciate them investing in noteworthy architecture and providing high-paying jobs in downtown San Jose, especially in this hugely important frame area that will come to help define the city’s downtown core boundaries over the next several generations.”
The project site is located on the northeast side of Stockton Avenue, southeast from Julian Street and within 0.3 miles from the Diridon Station. The site is bordered by vacant land that is entitled for a nine-story mixed hotel and residential building to the northwest, the Union Pacific railroad corridor and the SAP Center parking lot to the northeast, a seven-story apartment complex to the southeast and a senior center and a surface parking lot for several commercial buildings to the southwest across Stockton Avenue.
An existing one-story, 94,000 square foot warehouse would be demolished and eight ordinance-size trees and six non-ordinance-size trees would be removed as part of the construction process.
“A great deal has changed since we bought the property in 2015,” Imwalle said. “Pandemics may come and they may go, but the fundamentals of great real estate will not change. Our immediate proximity to what will be the west coast’s most transit-rich station in Google’s Downtown West will continue to improve what is already a great site nestled between a robust and growing downtown San Jose and the historic charm of The Alameda. Undoubtedly, this location will be on the leading edge as new office development returns.”
