SAN JOSE—In this uncertain environment, one company is demonstrating that while some issues are beyond the control of any one entity, others such as the entitlement process can be controlled. So says Cupertino-based KT Urban, which submitted a site development permit to the city of San Jose for Woz Way Offices, a 1.8 million-square-foot mixed-use office development.

"Our relationship with the city of San Jose is really important and the city is working with development to keep things moving," Shawn Milligan, partner at KT Urban, tells GlobeSt.com.

Working with C2K Architecture, KT Urban plans for the project feature two 20-story office towers including 6,000 square feet of retail and 30,000 square feet of outdoor terraces within multiple levels located at 280 Woz Way, off of Almaden Boulevard and San Carlos Street. This location reflects a shift of the downtown away from Santa Clara Street, Milligan says.

"The confluence of transit infrastructure in San Jose, BART, light rail, rapid bus service and highways, which all converge downtown, is unparalleled. There's no other submarket in Silicon Valley where technology can physically scale their businesses to meet the need for human capital and transportation," said Milligan. "With the center of downtown San Jose shifting away from Santa Clara Street, southward towards Park Avenue and closer to transit options, we see the Woz Way project as a great way to activate this area with new opportunities reflecting this trend."

The 2.93-acre site will also include four levels of parking below grade and four above grade for a total of 1,215 spaces. Located near the convention center, the Children's Discovery Museum and several light rail stations, as well as entrances to Highway 280 and Highway 87, this transit-oriented project is currently scheduled for groundbreaking in 2021.

"For the last 20 years the focus has been on suburban office only, but for the first time in two decades, a spec building is being constructed in the downtown core of San Jose," Milligan tells GlobeSt.com. "Really, the visibility to San Jose International Airport is the largest benefit. It's had a tremendous rebound during the last 10 years so we are confident that will continue once the coronavirus situation goes away. These projects located in urban environments benefit from activity and want to be located there. I'm very upbeat."

Given that the top 10 local technology employers have an aggregate cash runway of about $600 billion, the local economy is likely more resilient to the immediate impact of COVID-19 than less tech-centric markets, according to a report by JLL. Though disruption in real estate activity through the year is inevitable, the full utilization of the technological innovations created here are likely to soften the impacts of COVID-19 on major technology companies in the valley, says JLL.

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