The backers of the San Jose Light Tower Corporation, who have raised $1 million to pursue a landmark and expect to raise tens of millions more before it reaches fruition, are undeterred.

“Optimistically, we’re going to receive hundreds of ideas,” Jon Ball, the chairman of the Light Tower board, told a skeptical crowd at a community meeting in late February. For the right project, he added, donors would open their wallets very wide. “A great idea at $150 million is sometimes easier to fund than a frankly uninspiring idea at half the price,” he said.

Mr. Ball, a retired construction executive, said the idea for a landmark was born a few years ago when he was driving with his wife, Paula, on a local highway. She remarked that if she didn’t know she was in San Jose, she would have no clue. The cityscape lacks any distinction, and the physical setting at the southern edge of San Francisco Bay is less than memorable — especially in contrast to a certain metropolis 50 miles to the northwest.

San Jose has suffered forever from its proximity to San Francisco, which has been heralded since its founding for its charm and beauty. In recent years, the center of tech gravity has shifted north to San Francisco. That has added to the misery of San Jose boosters, who fear the loss of one of the city’s few claims to fame.