[cardinal2007]

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/n...-prepares.html

Exclusive: As downtown San Jose's Ross store prepares to go dark, tower plans wait in the wings

Faced with the loss of Ross Dress for Less at his downtown San Jose property, developer Mike Sarimsakci examined the prospects for filling the roughly 30,000-square-foot space with another retailer. It didn't take long to decide on a surer — if seemingly more complicated — course: Redeveloping the site into the city's next high-rise apartment tower.

"We've always wanted to do this project, but I think we were waiting for the right time. It's at the right time," Sarimsakci, who heads up Dallas-based developer Alterra International, told me in a phone call from Istanbul on Monday night. "We're departing amicably with Ross, and the market conditions are such that if we miss the cycle, we'll end up waiting maybe another 10 years. That could be too late."

Earlier this month, Sarimsakci submitted preliminary plans for a 24-story modernist apartment tower for the site, a 24,000-square-foot parcel at 27 S. First Street, smack dab in the downtown's historic district. The project would include 324 units and 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, replacing a site that's been home to Ross since 2009. The chain announced several weeks ago — after months of rumors — that it will be closing the store this summer, exercising an exit clause in its lease agreement to leave early.

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