July 31–SAN JOSE — A chunk of a big industrial park in north San Jose could be redeveloped as a site for a new hotel and potentially retail and offices, city planners said Monday.
LBA Realty, a veteran development firm, has proposed development of a hotel and commercial uses that could include office buildings and retail on 14 acres of a 68-acre site. An affiliate of the company has bought the site, at the corner of Trimble Road and Orchard Parkway in San Jose.
"A lot of this is vacant land, so LBA has a lot of flexibility" for what could eventually be constructed on the site, said John Tu, project manager with the San Jose Planning Department.
The developer in March paid $130 million for the site, which currently consists of large stretches of empty land and some big industrial buildings, including a complex occupied by Lumileds, an LED and automotive lighting firm.
The affiliate of the developer, an entity called LBA RVI-Company, also obtained a $91.3 million construction loan from Bank of America, which is a type of loan typically used to finance a development project.
"This site, the location is tremendous," said Duffy D'Angelo, an executive vice president with Colliers International, a commercial realty brokerage.
LBA executives didn't immediately respond to multiple requests for a response about the company's proposal that's on file with the city.
That filing includes a proposal for a 250-room hotel in addition to 100,000 square feet of commercial uses on the 14 acres now under study for redevelopment.
City officials are anxious to encourage new offices, hotels, industrial, research and residential development in north San Jose. The city believes north San Jose could be on a path of progress as tech firms attempt to expand their operations in the region.
"LBA wants to think about it and have some long-term phasing on the site," Tu said.
These proposals on the north side of San Jose have arrived as city officials are busy with a potential transit-oriented development that some have dubbed Google Village in downtown San Jose near the Diridion transit station. Google is eyeing up to 6 million to 8 million square feet of offices near the train station, a development that could bring 15,000 to 20,000 of the tech giant's employees downtown.
The north San Jose site that LBA wants to develop is large enough that the realty firm wouldn't necessarily have to develop the entire acreage at once and could even leave the Lumiled offices in place.
"LBA could build around Lumiled if they wanted to," D'Angelo said.
This development site is a short distance from a large north San Jose campus that Cupertino-based Apple has obtained through property purchases and leases. Apple's proximity as well as a new Samsung campus on North First Street could bolster both the hotel and the retail.
"Apple is right there, and there is interest in a lot of hotel development in north San Jose," D'Angelo said.
Plus, while some retail has been developed on north First Street, it doesn't appear to be keeping up with the demand unleashed by new office and residential development in the area.
"The retail that is already there is impacted with demand," D'Angelo said. "Although demand for offices has slowed in the area, LBA could still have a lot of activity and demand for their new retail development and for the offices. It's a great site."
