Conversion of San Jose tower from offices to homes starts to emerge

A project to convert a historic tower in downtown San Jose from offices to housing is starting to take shape.

SAN JOSE — A project to convert a historic tower in downtown San Jose from offices to housing is starting to take shape — a proposal that could bring a rooftop restaurant to the iconic highrise, city documents show.

The Bank of Italy tower at 12 South First Street in downtown San Jose is headed towards a wide-ranging conversion to transform offices into residential units on the vast majority of the 13-story building’s floors, according to a proposal on file with city officials.

Canada-based mega-developer Westbank and San Jose-based local developer Urban Community, which is headed up by real estate entrepreneurs Gary Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga, are leading the renovation and conversion of the Bank of Italy tower.

“It’s important for downtown that this project gets completed,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy.

The proposal envisions residential units on at least 11 floors of the building, the planning documents show.

“Floors two through 12 shall be reconfigured with new residential units, with new finishes, appliances and necessary electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems,” according to the proposal on file at City Hall.

The proposal also envisions a residential area in the attic level of the tower, which is just below the landmark spire and cupola atop the Bank of Italy building.

Westbank and Urban Community are floating the concept of the conversion of the tower to residential units at a time when the office market in the Bay Area suffers from an array of maladies.

The Bay Area office market’s afflictions include record-high vacancy levels, an uneven return to the workplace and the prospect that remote work is becoming a permanent feature of the region’s economic landscape.

The original plan for the tower envisioned a top-to-bottom, and interior and exterior renovation of the highrise, with relatively small offices for numerous tenants.

Dining and retail spaces were also planned for the ground floor and other key sections of the tower.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the original plan was the installation of an exterior staircase that would spiral up the outside of the tower. That exterior staircase proposal no longer appears in the latest version of the project.

The full-fledged renovation and restoration of the tower — and its transformation into an eye-catching Bay Area landmark — remains firmly in plans, the planning documents show.

New garden areas and upgrades will be added to the tower property on the terraces that are adjacent to the building.

A restaurant with some outdoor dining and gathering areas is slated to be built on one of the terraces on the side of the tower, according to the proposal.

The plans to completely revamp and upgrade the building, including a full modernization of the energy systems in the structure, have been in the works for years. However, the outbreak of the coronavirus thwarted the progress of the plans.

Ultimately, the harsh economic realities that have wiped out the viability of the construction of new speculative office buildings also prompted Westbank and Urban Community to ponder a dramatic shift to residences in the tower rather than offices.

Since the offices are relatively small, each office has at least one window, allowing plenty of natural light into the space. That makes such spaces a suitable candidate for residential uses.

The plans also refer to an attic floor totaling 6,600 square feet, a lower penthouse of 1,400 square feet and an upper penthouse of 900 square feet. This suggests that the top floors could include some posh residences with dramatic views of the South Bay.

The proposal is poised to help activate the increasingly bustling Fountain Alley pathway that connects South First Street with South Second Street.

“The Bank of Italy reuse project is an extremely complicated and expensive jigsaw puzzle,” Staedler said. “The proposed changes seem reasonable and keep the historic nature of the building intact.”