Second Harvest food bank preps San Jose HQ plan after lawsuit win
SAN JOSE — A busy nonprofit food bank will again pursue the construction of a modern headquarters and warehouse in San Jose after prevailing in a lawsuit that had sought to derail the project.
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is actively planning its future headquarters again after a Santa Clara County court dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice.
Organizacion Comunidad de Alviso, a South Bay group headed up by local activist Mark Espinosa, had claimed in its lawsuit that city officials acted improperly when they approved the food bank’s proposed warehouse in north San Jose.
The community group filed its lawsuit in 2022. In June 2023, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil Kulkarni dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice.
Now, Second Harvest can proceed with its headquarters and warehouse plans — although the project may well be revised.
“We are continuing to make progress on our new unified headquarters,” Diane Baker Hayward, a spokesperson for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, stated in an email response to a question about the future of the head offices.
San Jose city officials gave final approval to the new office and warehouse complex in August 2022. During the approximately two years since then, the food bank has been evaluating its operational requirements for the new building before it commits to a final design.
The proposed headquarters, office and warehouse complex would be built at 4553 and 4563 North First Street in San Jose’s Alviso district.
“The building will have a similar look and feel to the plans approved in 2022, but we have refined the original building design,” Baker Hayward said.
The new proposal envisions a complex of about 209,000 square feet. The original plans proposed a project of 249,200 square feet. That’s a reduction of 40,200 square feet or about 16% less space.
“We realized we can work within a smaller footprint and are proposing adjustments to the approved plans with the city,” Baker Hayward said.
The number of employees, volunteers, vehicles, trucks, or trips won’t increase as a result of the shift in plans project, according to Baker Hayward.
“We were also able to include more parking spaces to ensure we can accommodate volunteers during their various shifts,” Baker Hayward said.
The revamped plans for a new headquarters emerge at a time when Second Harvest has decided to shut one of its warehouses.
The food bank decided to close the warehouse after the nonprofit learned it was facing a rent hike.
The warehouse that will be shuttered is at 528 Brennan Street in San Jose, according to the food bank, which had considered the site temporary.
The nonprofit has been using the warehouse for volunteer production shifts and to store equipment, supplies, and food.
A timeline wasn’t immediately available as to when Second Harvest might begin construction on the new San Jose complex.
In 2022, Second Harvest paid $37.2 million for the site where it intends to build its new warehouse, food distribution and office complex.
It made sense for Second Harvest to pursue a smaller and potentially less costly, according to the organization.
“As a nonprofit, we are focused on managing our costs and using donor dollars in the most impactful way,” Baker Hayward said.