Church revamp underway at downtown San Jose housing towers site

SAN JOSE — A once-stalled project to restore a historic church in downtown San Jose is underway again at a site where developers have submitted fresh proposals for two residential towers across the street from St. James Park.

For about a month during September, money from the developer, China-based Z & L Properties, which has its local offices in Foster City, didn’t pay money for the renovation, according to church project contractor Garden City Construction. That lack of payment halted the work temporarily, Garden City Construction said.

“Z & L Properties knows how important the historic First Church of Christ Science building is to the City of San Jose,” said Robert Buckner, chief financial officer with Z & L. “We are making sure that we tackle the toughest part of the Park View Towers project right out of the gate and are working diligently to restore the church structure back to a habitable state.”

Now, work is once again underway to protect the church against the rains and winds of winter, said James Salata, the construction company president.

“Things are going along fine,” Salata said. “We are making sure the church will be totally weather tight and protected during the rainy season. We had to stop for about three to four weeks. But we got the check from the developer and we are going again.”

A large construction tarp has been deployed to prevent the church from being exposed to wintry weather. Garden City also has launched work inside the building as part of the renovation.

“We have removed asbestos and dry rot and plaster in our work,” Salata said.

Current plans call for the developer to at some point develop two residential towers that would flank the church on the lot, which is bounded by East St. James, North First, Devine and North Second streets.

Originally, 208 residential units were proposed for the housing component of the project. Now, the planned number is 221. An estimated 154 residential units will be in one tower and another 62 will be part of the second tower. Plus, five townhouses will be built on the site next to the church.

Built in 1905, the First Church of Christ Scientist building was designed by famed San Francisco architect William Polk.

“The building has been vacant for many decades, waiting for restoration,” according to a report from Preservation Action Council of San Jose. “Weather and neglect have taken a serious toll on this elegant structure.”

The congregation that had used the church for decades relocated in 1946 to The Alameda, the preservation group’s report stated.

“The St. James structure was used as a meeting house, a movie theater, a live theater, a rehearsal hall and then vacant for many decades” after the congregation departed, the preservation council said.

The work that is underway inside the church will be conducted in phases and the restoration itself is in a preliminary stage, according to the contractor.

“Eventually we will do a seismic retrofit of the building,” Salata said. “The repairs will be in the millions.” He didn’t have a precise figure for the restoration costs.

The repair efforts are well worth it, according to Salata.

“We are very proud to be part of this project,” Salata said. “It is a very beautiful old building.”

Still, a considerable amount of work looms for the church and the remainder of the development.

“The church is in much worse condition than anyone anticipated, and it will be major job to bring this beautiful building back to life,” Z & L’s Buckner said. “When complete, it will be a tremendous benefit for the San Jose community.”

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