Developer files for demolition as Park Habitat proceeds

Plans for the green 20-story tower slated to be built in Downtown San Jose continue budding.

The developer for the proposed Park Habitat project has filed for permits to demolish the existing building at 180 Park Ave.,The Mercury News reported. The building being demolished is Parkside Hall, the aging 35,800 square-foot building that served as San Jose’s first convention center.

Park Habitat, a joint project of mega-developer Westbank and local development firm Urban Community, will bring 1.2 million square feet of office space as well as stores and an expansion of the Tech Interactive science and technology museum. The project will be erected near other developments, including Jay Paul Co.’s 19-story office tower at 200 Park Ave. and 3.8 million-square-foot tech campus across the street.

“What Westbank is building here, coupled with Jay Paul’s project next door and across the street, will transform Park Avenue into the premium office address in Silicon Valley,” he said.

Renderings of Park Habitat depict the building feature gardens throughout the building, with vines running along the window panels. The building will have an open-air atrium to increase fresh-air ventilation and allow more natural light. The developers and the lead designer and architect, Japan-based Kengo Kuma & Associates, tout the building will allow people to work in a park.

“The building design features a full-height courtyard which brings daylight and natural ventilation into the interior of the building,” a city planning document states. “Park Habitat’s design takes inspiration from nature as well as the surrounding historic context.”

The city approved Urban Community last year, making it the largest to receive approval from San Jose since Google’s planned 80-acre transit village.

Urban Community, which allegedly spent about $300 million downtown, had sold $184 million of property to Westbank a day before the firms said they would team up to develop six downtown projects.

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