A trio of well-known restaurateurs are betting on Downtown San Jose with plans to expand into a new mixed-use office complex.
The owners of the popular Original Gravity Public House, Paper Plane and Miniboss are opening a new restaurant and bar in Paseo, a mixed-use redevelopment of a long-shuttered movie theater at 201 S. Second St., SiliconValley.com reported.
“We are bullish on downtown San Jose,” said Dan Phan, a principal executive of the restaurant group. “We have our nucleus here. With all of the development activity happening, we think we will do very well here.”
Phan and his partners, Johnny Wang and George Lahlouh, have leased nearly 4,000 square feet within the Paseo – a 100,00-square-foot mixed-use project by local developer Urban Catalyst, according to COO and partner Joshua Burroughs.
Paseo replaced the former multiplex previously known as Camera 12 with a “restaurant row,” which now has a lineup of three tenants with dining operations.
The yet-to-be named restaurant and bar headed by Phan, Lahlouh and Wang rented 3,800 square feet. They’ll be joined by Unofficial Logging, an ax-throwing restaurant and bar that has leased 6,800 square feet; and an unidentified restaurant that has inked a letter of intent to lease another 2,500 square feet, which would fill up the ground-floor restaurant and commercial space.
Urban Putt, a miniature golf course operation, has also leased 13,300 square feet of retail space.
Urban Catalyst, based in San Jose, plans to soon market the 75,000 square feet of Class-A office space on the second and third floors of Paseo, according to Burroughs. A company affiliate paid $24 million for the property in December 2019, and obtained $13.6 million in financing from Bridge Bank, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
It also secured a $56.2 million senior construction loan through Rialto Capital, The Real Deal reported.
The Downtown-based firm was formed in 2018 to capitalize on tax benefits for developing in opportunity zones, which include nearly all of Downtown San Jose. The following year, it raised $60 million from investors, and now owns seven project sites in Downtown San Jose, including the Paseo, valued at $700 million.
Phan says his latest restaurant in the Paseo redevelopment will feature a restaurant that serves top-notch cocktails. He liked the site for its20-foot high ceiling, which once served as the main movie theater lobby.
With three well-established eateries in Downtown, he sees signs the city center is bouncing back from its economic nosedive unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic and government-ordered business shutdowns.
“Things are definitely trending up,” Phan told the newspaper. “Our weekend business has returned almost to the pre-COVID levels. Weekday business still has some catching up to do. We think downtown San Jose is getting more activity and we want to be part of that.”
[SiliconValley.com] – Dana Bartholomew
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