San Jose State Eyes Downtown Hotel as Housing

San Jose State University is negotiating to buy the south tower of the Signia Hilton, a hotel at 170 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, with plans to convert a portion of its rooms into student housing.

The south tower is part of a two-building hotel that for several decades operated at the location as the Fairmont San Jose, an 805-room hotel that was a local landmark.

According to a report in SiliconValley.com, the owner of the current occupant, the Signia Hilton, confirmed earlier this year that the company was in negotiations with a potential buyer for the south tower.

The potential deal being discussed involves the Signia Hilton occupying the 541-room north tower, which would remain a conventional hotel, while SJSU would occupy the 264-unit south tower; the south tower will be converted to SJSU student housing once the deal is complete, the report said.

SJSU officials told SiliconValley.com that “no transactions have been finalized.”

The report said that hotel occupancy levels in San Jose have been low, meaning that the Signia Hilton San Jose would have enough rooms to accommodate its customers after its footprint is reduced to the north tower.

The owner spent $65M on an upgrade of the hotel, with restaurants, a lounge, pool, fitness center, cabana, conference center and other amenities located in the north tower, which could continue to function as a full-service hotel if the potential deal with SJSU comes to fruition.

Meanwhile, across the Bay, a festering dispute between UC Berkeley and nonprofits affiliated with the People’s Park over the university’s plans to build student housing on the site has generated another lawsuit.

Three 50-year-old non-profits—the People’s Park Council, People’s Park Project and Native Plant Forum—have filed a $4.5M lawsuit against the University of California Regents in Alameda County Superior Court.

The lawsuit claims that UC Berkeley “willfully and maliciously” destroyed the community’s plants and property when it began demolition in August 2022 for a student housing project.

The demolition began after an Alameda County Superior Court judge had given the green light to UC Berkeley to begin construction on a $312M student housing project that plans to erect two apartment buildings in Berkeley’s famous People’s Park.

The project currently is on hold awaiting a California Supreme Court ruling which will determine whether or not the development can move forward, SiliconValley.com reported.