Hotel tower eyed for regen downtown multigenerational residential project
MELBOURNE: A hotel tower would join a big multigenerational residential project proposed for a downtown regeneration site in an increasingly busy neighborhood in the city’s urban core, according to new plans being pondered by municipal planners.
Invicta Towers, a development that’s been proposed for downtown San Jose, was originally envisioned to contain three residential towers, a theater, as well as retail and dining spaces. Now, a fresh approach to the site would add a big hotel with hundreds of rooms within one of the residential towers.
“Here is an opportunity to really activate this downtown block,” said Carla Dimond, a managing partner and chief analyst with Knowhere Holdings, the principal developer of the project.
The Invicta Towers development, if approved and built, would rise on part of a block near the corner of East William and South Second streets. The property also would have some frontage on South First Street. The development would be located in downtown San Jose’s up-and-coming South First Area, or SoFA district, which features arts outlets, theaters, restaurants and nightclubs.
“This development should really stimulate the area and get more people into the area,” Dimond said. “You want to get people to walk into the museums nearby, more people to participate in the arts outlets, enjoy the nightlife and restaurants in the area.”
The initial proposal would have required the developers to find the right restaurant for the project. That could have been a tricky endeavor due to the wide range of potential customers, including residents in the towers and others who happened to be in that part of downtown San Jose.
Under the new version of the project, the restaurant would be part of the hotel and would be brought into the project by the future hotel operator. Plus, a hotel would mean a ready-made audience of customers for the restaurant.
“The hotel operators we are talking to would develop the restaurant, and they are all about the restaurant,” Dimond said. “Travelers don’t cook. They use nearby bars and restaurants.”
In the new plan, the mixed stack of hotel rooms and residences would feature a hotel lobby on the ground floor, 14 floors of hotel rooms and eight floors of residential units, according to a copy of the latest proposal obtained by this news organization.
The hotel and residential tower would include hotel amenities that would be made available to the residences in that tower. The other two towers would be residential only.
The 25-story mixed-use tower portion of the Invicta development would contain 205 hotel rooms, along with 79 residences.
“The restaurant would have artisan foods, artisan drinks, different kinds of foods, a great menu, things that would make the restaurant stand out,” Dimond said. “The idea is to really have a visionary food operation.”
The initial proposal would have included as many as 667 residential units in the three towers, but no hotel. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the number of homes would be eventually be scaled back.
“There are still plans for a live performance theater in the Invicta development, and City Lights would be part of that,” Dimond said.
This location, just a few blocks from San Jose’s convention center, is an excellent location for a new hotel, according to a downtown expert.
“Downtown San Jose definitely needs new luxury hotel rooms,” said Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association. “This hotel would be a hop, skip and a jump from the convention center.”
