A site in San Jose, California, once planned to be part of an entertainment district may end up as a data center instead.
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Developer Terra Ventures has proposed a two-building data center complex on 9.3 vacant acres in San Jose’s Alviso district. Next to a Topgolf developed by the same firm, the campus would entail a three-story data center and a three-story energy supply facility totaling a combined 462K SF, The Mercury News reported, citing documents on file with the San Jose Planning Department.
No operator or end user has been named for the campus, which is planned at the corner of North First Street and Liberty Street.
When Terra Ventures purchased the north San Jose property in 2018, the firm intended it to be part of a broader entertainment district the company hoped to develop across a number of adjoining sites. Branded as Shops @ Terra, the project was pitched as a mixed-use complex with two hotels, retail and restaurants anchored by a Topgolf entertainment facility.
Only the Topgolf ever came to fruition, while one of the hotel sites was seized by lenders following a foreclosure. That 3.2-acre property is now slated to become a 780-unit, eight-building residential complex, a project proposed by Los Angeles-based LH Housing last year.
Terra Ventures’ latest proposal for the North First Street site isn't the first time the company has tried to pivot the property toward data centers. The firm floated a smaller campus in 2023, with plans for a pair of buildings totaling just under 347K SF.
While Terra Ventures hasn't previously been a player in the fast-growing data center sector, north San Jose is increasingly an area of interest for data center developers looking to build in the constrained Silicon Valley market, according to JLL.
Data center vacancy rates in Northern California sit at just 1%, with development in existing hubs like Santa Clara limited by difficulties in permitting and securing power. JLL reports that developers looking to bring new capacity online are turning their attention to places like north San Jose, East Bay and Sunnyvale, which could see a surge in proposed data center projects in the months ahead.
