Big industrial complex is eyed at San Jose site once linked to Amazon

A Bay Area developer has proposed a big industrial complex on a San Jose site once tied to Amazon.

SAN JOSE — A Bay Area mega-developer has proposed a big industrial complex on a San Jose site that at various times was slated to become an Amazon delivery center.

The latest proposal for the north San Jose site is far larger than prior plans for the property, which is at 2256 Junction Avenue, city documents filed recently and over the last few years show.

The new project envisions an industrial building that would total approximately 312,500 square feet.

Prologis, a mega-developer, submitted the preliminary proposal for the industrial complex. The Junction Avenue property is owned by Duke Realty, a major developer that Prologis bought in October 2022.

At present, an empty industrial building totaling 141,300 square feet occupies the site, which is at the corner of Junction Avenue and Dado Street.

The prior approach for the development of the site envisioned a partial demolition of the building and replacement with a new covered structure that create a slightly larger building of 141,500 square feet.

At the time these plans were being floated around 2020 and 2021, San Jose planning documents referred to the proposal as the Amazon building.

Since then, the outbreak of the coronavirus has caused numerous office expansions by some tech titans to be scuttled and scrapped.

To some extent, however, industrial buildings have managed to escape the office downsizing trends.

Real estate developers continue to pursue projects for industrial, warehouse, logistics and advanced manufacturing centers in the Bay Area, despite the uncertainties.

Amazon, Home Depot, FedEx, UPS and Geodis are the largest Prologis customers, the real estate giant stated in an annual report that it filed in February 2023 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Amazon has also been a major tenant for Duke Realty in recent years.