Commercial Real Estate Blog

KT Properties has acquired the property locatd at 1 South Market St in Downtown San Jose from Haury Properties. Plans for the site include high-rise condominiums but could be changed to office if the demand materializes. KT and its partners are currently developing the AXIS residential condo project located at Santa Clara and N Almaden Boulevard.

Haury originally had been holding the site for office development but later changed those plans into residential as the office market cooled.

The city seems to prefer that the 1 S Market site go office but it doesn’t make any sense at current rents Downtonw. Legacy is in the process of building the second tower at RiverPark on W San Carlos, and the BEA building is up in the air now that Oracle is acquiring them. In addition, Boston Properties and Barry Swenson control land downtown at a lower cost basis which could go office.

Sold, not sold, sold, not sold. Such went the story of The Mitchell Block in San Jose for years. It appears though this time, “sold” just might stick. The Mitchell Block, a 3.6 Acre parcel bound between Santa Clara and St. John streets between First and Market in downtown San Jose has finally sold to the VTA for a reported price tag of about $40M.

Several years ago, the Palladium Group out of New York was reported to have been in negotiations and/or contract to purchase the parcel to convert into a several hundred million dollar entertainment and housing project. The fallout of the local market during the early part of the decade killed that deal.

The VTA intends to use the parcel as a staging area for its construction activities for the next few years. Their are plans on the books for a Bart extension into San Jose but those are at best several years off leaving the parcel to continue in its underutilized state.