[San Frangelino]

From:http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci...nclick_check=1

Spaces and places: Office park proposed in North San Jose
By Katherine Conrad
Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News

Article Launched:09/04/2007 01:34:37 AM PDT

It was only a year ago when Manou Mobedshahi turned the San Jose Hyatt into a Holiday Inn.
Now a developer wants to turn the hotel into an office park.

According to a filing last week with the San Jose planning department, TMG Partners of San Francisco proposes turning the 17-acre site, with its rambling two-story hotel, into 10- and 20-story office towers. Located on North First Street off Highway 101, next to a light-rail line and just a mile from the airport, the property is considered prime land for development.

Rich Watkins of TMG was not available to comment Friday, nor was Mobedshahi. But the hotelier said a year ago he was negotiating a long-range plan to build a mini-city of 2,500 condos, offices and hundreds of hotel rooms, after his 10-year contract with Holiday Inn expired.

"It would be a vertical Santana Row, only much more organic," Mobedshahi said in 2006, acknowledging that such a project could take a decade or more to develop.

Preliminary plans submitted to the city call for demolishing the existing hotel and constructing two 10-story office buildings totaling 500,000 square feet and a six-level parking garage in phase one. Phase two proposes a 20-story, 500,000-square-foot tower with a parking garage.
Jean Hamilton, acting planning official for the city, said TMG's proposal was only one of several recently submitted to the city for development of North San Jose. Tishman Speyer, which bought nearby property from BEA Systems earlier this year, proposes a several million-square-foot office and retail development, and the Irvine Co. received approval last Tuesday to build up to 1,900 residential units in the area.

"It's definitely in the direction the city envisions, supporting the intensification of North San Jose," Hamilton said. "We're getting a lot of interest."
The next step involves the city vetting the applications with various departments to ensure the building heights don't pose a risk given the proximity of the airport.

Another green office project:

Opus West announced plans to build two office towers, totaling 448,000 square feet, at Sierra Point in South San Francisco.
The project will meet green policies outlined by the U.S. Green Building Council in its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines.
Both buildings will feature cool roofs, bike racks and showers, window glazing, water-efficient landscaping and water-use reductions that result in 20 percent reductions.