Downtown San Jose apartment complex gets ready for tenant leases
SAN JOSE — A downtown San Jose apartment complex is gearing up to sign tenant leases for the complex, which will include rooftop amenities and a restaurant that’s akin to a speakeasy.
The Taft, a 130-unit residential project, is near the end of its construction and is getting ready to land tenants to live in the building, the developers of the property say.
“We’re going to be leasing up in June,” said Dennis Randall, president of Acquity Realty, which has teamed up with Cigna Realty Advisors to develop The Taft. “We’re getting ready for tenants.”
In 2019, Cigna came on board the project as an investment partner, providing a construction loan of $41.5 million, according to documents filed with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.
The apartment building is located at 477 S. Market St. next to the San Jose Convention Center.
“It will have a restaurant where you go down the stairs below the street level,” Randall said. “It will be like a speakeasy. It’s kind of a cool concept.”
The restaurant will total about 8,000 square feet, according to Randall. Jeff Badstubner, a senior vice president with commercial real estate firm JLL, has begun to scout for a tenant to take the restaurant space.”
“When you walk past it on the sidewalk, you’ll be able to look down at the restaurant,” Randall said. The dining establishment is also slated to have a bar.
The restaurant is expected to be bolstered when conventions return to downtown San Jose. Due to the coronavirus, business travel virtually evaporated in Silicon Valley.
“Once the conventions come back that location will be great for a restaurant,” Randall said. “There will be people going to conventions right next door.”
Residents in The Taft will be able to relax and gather on the rooftop of the project, which will have an elevator that reaches the very top. Gardens and a barbecue are expected to be featured on the roof.
The apartment complex will offer amenities such as a roof deck and a community garden, according to Randall.
The Taft could be a unique development in downtown San Jose, Randall said.
The new complex is in the up-and-coming SoFA district, an emerging hotbed of nightlife replete with restaurants, nightclubs, theaters, and drinking establishments.
“It’s going to be a great, urban type of environment,” Randall said.