AT&T puts big downtown San Jose parking lot up for sale

SAN JOSE — AT&T intends to sell a parking lot at a choice location in downtown San Jose, a move that could entice some key development players amid widening interest in the urban core of the Bay Area’s largest city.

The lot, located at 95 S. Almaden Ave. between Post and West San Fernando streets, provides surface parking for people who work inside an adjacent AT&T building that houses a nexus for the telecommunications giant’s network services in downtown San Jose.

For decades, the parking lot has been overlooked as a site for potential development, since it’s been inseparable from a telecommunications building that’s been there long enough to have once been operated by Pacific Bell.

But now, the roughly one-acre parking lot could become an area of interest for development.

“It’s the most visible invisible site in downtown San Jose,” said Mark Ritchie, president of Ritchie Commercial, a real estate firm. “It’s been that way for decades. It’s been overlooked so far.”

That could start to change if AT&T proceeds with its plans to sell the parking lot. The adjacent building, which sports an AT&T logo, is a central office and communications hub for downtown San Jose.

“This is just one of several non-core assets the company has chosen to sell over the last several years,” AT&T said in emailed comments provided by company media representative Vincent Bitong. “This should have no impact on the service provided to our customers.”

A buyer could emerge sooner rather than later since AT&T met in early April with city officials regarding a potential property transaction.

“All parties expressed excitement about the possibility of developing the site,” Bitong said.

AT&T issued a public notice to sell the property in April. A potential buyer has been identified, according to AT&T.

The surface parking lot is near the bustling San Pedro Square area, as well as several sites for current and future development. It’s a short distance from a new office tower that Adobe is constructing. It’s a few doors away from Cityview Plaza and within two blocks of Park Avenue, where several mega projects are being contemplated or readied.

Plus, a few blocks away, Google has proposed a transit-oriented community of office buildings, homes, stores, restaurants, and open spaces near the Diridon transit hub where 25,000 people could work, including 15,000 to 20,000 of the search giant’s employees.

“It’s a great location,” Ritchie said. “No one looked at it because it was attached to the telephone company building.”

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