Downtown San Jose lands several new merchants as area rebound sprouts
SAN JOSE — Some sections of downtown San Jose are starting to land a fresh crop of restaurants, bars and other establishments as new businesses sprout in the economic rubble left behind by the coronavirus pandemic.
A burst of leases bringing new ventures to several spots is raising hopes that downtown San Jose’s post-coronavirus recovery has finally begun to take root.
Fountain Alley, South First Street and East Santa Clara Street are among the areas seeing some activity in the form of new leases. Still, if a rebound is underway, it’s likely only in the very early stages.
Downtown San Jose is characterized by a block here or there of lively activity. Yet each hub is akin to an oasis of vibrant energy hemmed in by economic wastelands of empty commercial fronts that stare out at pedestrians and drivers as they hurry past the vacant windows or blank walls.
Any upswing must emerge on a door-by-door basis, according to some political and business leaders.
“We have to do the basics — we have to learn to block and tackle,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said in a recent interview with this news organization, following a meeting to discuss strategies to create a more vibrant downtown. “It has to be done little by little and block by block.”
The challenge that confronts political and business leaders is they must craft ways to create more lively activity downtown and connect the existing islands.
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The idea is for bustling spots such as San Pedro Square, South First Street and South Second Street, along with sites such as Fountain Alley and sporadic spots of Santa Clara Street and Market Street to expand and for the dead zones to shrink.
Real estate entrepreneurs Gary Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga, who are partners at development firm Urban Community, have landed several tenants in recent months in the Fountain Alley Building at 30 East Santa Clara Street and 30 Fountain Alley.
“Interesting, authentic food and drink places seem to work downtown,” said Nathan Donato-Weinstein, the city’s Downtown Manager. “Gary (Dillabough) and Jeff (Arrillaga) seem to have an eye for what works in this market. I’m pretty optimistic about this.”
Among the recent leases in the Fountain Alley Building:
- BAR Bitter, a food and cocktails outlet focused on bitters, is scheduled to open sometime this summer, a sign outside the facility’s doorway on Fountain Alley states.
- Fox Tale Fermentation Project, which offers fermented brews and foods, is open on the building’s East Santa Clara Street side.
- Goodtime Bar, located in Fountain Alley, offers curated wines and snacks from around the world.
- Hula Bar & Kitchen is the first Filipino restaurant in downtown San Jose, and is located on East Santa Clara Street.
- Scratch Cookery, which serves hot chicken sandwiches, along with tenders, wings and fries, is operating in Fountain Alley.
“The tenants we have here are all from San Jose and they were all referred to us by someone in San Jose,” Urban Community partner Arrillaga said. “No brokers were involved. It was all word of mouth.”
The merchants in the building do more than merely coexist. They have coalesced into a cooperative ecosystem.
“Now they are all helping each other,” Arrillaga said. “They all source produce together. A lot of the operators hang out at the wine bar.”
Frank Nguyen, who owns Academic Coffee on South Second Street, has no illusions that it’s only going to take cooperation and some good fortune to make a go of it in downtown San Jose these days.
“We know that things can take a lot of time to turn around,” Nguyen said. “But Dillabough and Arrillaga have done a great job of trying to lease spaces and keep them active and open.”
Nguyen is helping Syrus Fotovant open the new BAR Bitter in Fountain Alley.
“I was looking for something small, more intimate and unique,” Fotovant said. “So we decided to take the approach of focusing on bitters, both for beverages and food. There’s more interest in bitters these days.”
Fox Tale’s unique approach to offering an array of fermented items may be catching on.
“We’re focusing on all things that are fermented — food, beer and cultured beverages,” said Felipe Bravo, co-owner of Fox Tale. “What we are trying to do is unique and very high quality.”
Fox Tale’s owners are seeing improvements in downtown San Jose since they opened a year ago.
“Being downtown has been fantastic for us,” said Wendy Neff, co-owner of Fox Tale. “It’s amazing to be part of a young, independent group of entrepreneurs. This block is getting more new young and independent businesses, operations that are women-owned, that are owned by people of color.”
Hula Bar & Kitchen is one of the newest arrivals, having opened in March.
“This part of Santa Clara Street is kind of the red-headed stepchild, but there are a lot of good small businesses that are trying to make it,” said Ryan Gorospe, owner of Hula Bar. “Ours is the only Filipino restaurant in downtown San Jose. This isn’t San Pedro Square but we have a lot of good stuff going on here.”
A recent block party in Fountain Alley organized by Urban Community’s Dillabough and Arrillaga helped draw big crowds to experience the merchants there.
“We want to create a little bit of energy and vibrancy and start to see positive momentum,” Dillabough said. “We’re going to do more block parties.”
At 201 South Second Street, the former Camera 12 is being redeveloped as a “restaurant row,” as building owner Urban Catalyst envisions it.
Urban Putt, a miniature golf course operation; Unofficial Logging, an ax-throwing, restaurant and bar venue; and Eos & Nyx, a dining establishment, have leased spots on the ground floor of the old movie house.
A growing number of restaurant and retail tenants will open, predicted Mark Ritchie, president of Ritchie Commercial, a real estate firm.
“A string of new deals are coming to the downtown,” Ritchie said. “We will see the vacancies diminish and the streets become more active.”
One of the secrets to reviving downtown San Jose could be to ensure the new restaurants, bars and other outlets do more than just offer a cookie-cutter approach.
“People will travel to enjoy new experiences as we have in the Fountain Alley building,” Arrillaga said. “We never wanted a chain. We wanted unique places.”
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