Placemakr Partners With Bayview Development Group on San Jose Project

Placemakr has announced plans to open its first pop-up hotel in California. The tech-hospitality operator will partner with Bayview Development Group to build WhyHotel by Placemakr in San Jose.

Located inside the apartment building Miro San Jose at 28 N 4th St. in downtown San Jose, the hotel will operate under the company’s pop-up model, and booking accommodations for the space will be open in May. Guests will have access to upscale amenities, including a 24/7 fitness center, outdoor seating and grilling areas, a private dog park and the ground floor Starbucks and upscale Italian restaurant, which is set to open soon.

Placemakr recently closed a $90 million funding round and will leverage those funds to aggressively expand into new geographic locations, according to the firm. This pop-up is part of that strategy.

The hotel market was particularly hampered by the pandemic, with demand coming to a halt and many brands forced to shutter locations. However, in the Bay Area, there have been significant hotel trades in the last year and new development announcements that illustrate renewed enthusiasm for the hospitality market in the region.

Late last year, The San Jose Planning commission approved plans for an extended-stay Marriott hotel in San Jose’s Downtown West. Opportunity Zone Fund Urban Catalyst is the developer behind the project, while BDE Architecture and Studio Current will serve as the architects. The property will be branded extended-stay Marriott TownePlace Suites and target business travelers. The eight-story, 185,000-square-foot property will have 175 rooms with in-room kitchens and onsite parking. Guests typically stay an average of 15 nights. It is near Google’s Downtown West mega-campus. The hotel will be completed in 2023.

Nearby San Francisco has been a target for investors with several examples of major deals. Park Hotels & Resorts sold two of its San Francisco hotel properties in two separate transactions. The company sold Le Meridien San Francisco and Hotel Adagio for a total of $303.5 million, representing a 6.1% cap rate on 2019 net operating income, including capital expenditures. The sales price equates to $572,000 per key for the 531-room portfolio. In September, a partnership between AWH Partners and The Roxborough Group acquired the historic Villa Florence Hotel in San Francisco for $87.5 million. The partnership plans to fully reposition the 189-room hotel by upgrading all guestrooms, the lobby and the restaurant. And, last year, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has entered into a contract to sell the Villa Florence San Francisco for $87.5. An unaffiliated and unnamed third party has agreed to purchase the property, which is subject to standard closing costs and expected to close in the third quarter 2021.