Why the owners of San Jose’s historic Hotel De Anza are suing the city

The owners of San Jose’s historic Hotel De Anza are joining forces with preservationists in an effort to thwart the construction of a newly approved, 19-story hotel that they say would force the demise of one of the city’s most notable landmarks.

A month after San Jose City Council unanimously approved the construction of a new hotel next door to the 90-year-old De Anza, the Preservation Action Council of San Jose and the company that owns the De Anza, ML San Jose Holding LLC, have filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court against San Jose and its city council.

The suit alleges that the city violated the California Environmental Quality Act — a law that requires both state and local agencies to consider the consequences of decisions that involve changes to the environment — because it “failed and refused to study or mitigate potentially significant impacts to the integrity of the Hotel De Anza” when it conducted an environmental impact report for the new hotel project.

“Despite requests from PAC-SJ and others to adopt conditions and alternatives that protect the historic integrity of the De Anza while still allowing feasible new development, the city refused to concede that the project would have significant visual or historic resource impacts,” the lawsuit states.

The De Anza owners at PAC SJ are asking the city to reverse the hotel’s approval, redo the environmental impact report, and adequately analyze and adopt feasible alternatives smaller in mass and scale that would not “threaten the historicity or function or public views of the De Anza.”

In January, the city council approved plans from developer KT Urban to build a new hotel with 272 guest rooms, a 1,200-square-foot lobby and a rooftop bar and restaurant on a .2-acre site on the corner of North Almaden Boulevard and West Santa Clara Street.

The new hotel would tower over its neighbor, the 10-story, Art Deco-style Hotel De Anza, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Embert Madison, an attorney representing Hotel De Anza, told the council at its Jan. 15 meeting that the new hotel would cause “serious construction and operational issues” that would lead to the “demise” of the De Anza.

Specifically, Madison estimated that the historic hotel would lose $3 million annually from the new competition and nearly twice as much during its construction phase because of the nuisance to potential visitors.

City Attorney Rick Doyle could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

Mark Tersini, principal of KT Urban, said in a statement via email that he was “disappointed that this suit has been filed against an exciting urban project that will be a great benefit for downtown San Jose.”

Tersini defended the city’s environmental analysis and approval process, saying that it fully complied with state law and analyzed any potential effects to the De Anza before concluding that it did not pose a major impact.

“It is unfortunate that these opponents of the project are not willing to abide by the outcome of this very public, very transparent process,” Tersini said in an email.

Sonoma County-based Attorney Susan Brandt-Hawley, who is representing SJ PAC and the owners of the De Anza, declined to comment on the suit.

Brant-Hawley has also represented SJ PAC in previously successful lawsuits to protect the Jose Theater, the Montgomery Hotel, the Scheller House at San Jose State University and IBM Building 25.

As the next steps, representatives from the city and the owners of the De Anza and PAC SJ will meet for a settlement conference to determine how they will proceed.

Share this: Print

View more on The Mercury News