SAN JOSE — A tech hub is being pitched on the site of a failed housing development in San Jose, a project that could tie into Silicon Valley’s heightened appetite for artificial intelligence endeavors.
The eight-story tech center could sprout at 199 Bassett Street in downtown San Jose, according to documents filed with city planners.
Bird’s-eye view of an AI research and development center at 199 Bassett Street in downtown San Jose, massing image. (C2K Architecture)
At one point, the 199 Bassett property was the site of a proposed housing development that would have produced 803 affordable co-living residences.
That co-living housing project, however, was never built after the site’s owner and developer defaulted in 2021 on a $14.7 million loan whose collateral was the 199 Bassett site.
The lender, an affiliate of New York City-based Arena Investors, seized the property through a foreclosure in 2022. The property has been dormant ever since.
Now, a representative for the lender that owns the property, Bay Area real estate executive Dennis Randall, is guiding a proposal through the city review process to redevelop the property as a tech hub, San Jose planning files show.
Two low-slung and vacant old industrial buildings now occupy the development site.
The new tech project is described as an “AI Research and Development Facility,” the planning documents on file with the city show.
The structure would be eight stories high, according to the city planning records. The ground floor would contain two lobbies and a retail space totaling 2,800 square feet.
The interior components are consistent with many attributes that are frequently seen in a data center. Data centers are tech hubs whose computer banks can process huge amounts of data. The tech industry’s artificial intelligence sectors hunger for such data hubs.
Including a basement and the eight stories above it, the tech hub would total 281,800 square feet, according to the planning records.
The basement and the first floor would feature a power substation. The second and third floors would contain generators. Floors four, five, six and seven would contain computers, which the proposal calls “AI R&D” sites. The top floor on level eight would contain a cooling water plant.
This sort of floor pattern is consistent with a data center.
The development group heading up the project hopes to use the San Jose Innovative Project Pathway Program to help the proposal navigate through the city review process.
“The Pathway Program will provide a clear policy route for securing approval of innovative investment projects” that would provide “an extraordinary benefit to the City of San Jose,” stated an October 2024 memo that was prepared by three City Council members, including Mayor Matt Mahan.
The developers of the tech center also promised to develop housing in San Jose as part of the project.
“The project will also construct 400 units of housing in downtown San Jose on a separate site,” the planning documents stated. This location was to be determined.
