SAN JOSE — Preservationists are running up against a deadline to keep a case involving a brutalist-style building in downtown San Jose alive before the state appeals court.
The Preservation Action Council must file opening briefs in the case by mid-June, or the appeals court might dismiss the matter.
The group originally had aimed to rescue a building at 199 Park Ave. from the wrecking ball. In an interesting twist, the structure has already been bulldozed but the case is ongoing.
Despite the setback and the demise of the building, the preservationists remain adamant that city officials undertook a flawed environmental review process to underpin their approval of the Cityview Plaza project. The preservation group believes it was possible for the tech campus to be developed even if the building remained.
In 2020, the preservationists filed a legal complaint to force San Jose city officials to redo an environmental impact report for a vast tech campus project that would redevelop and replace Cityview Plaza, which occupies a block bounded by Park Avenue, Almaden Boulevard, West San Fernando Street and South Market Street.
But in November 2021, a county judge ruled against the preservation group. Within days of the ruling, developer Jay Paul Co. began demolition of the brutalist building. The structure has now been leveled.
Jay Paul Co., through an affiliate, owns the vast majority of Cityview Plaza and intends to build a modern tech campus on the site that would usher in dramatic changes to the downtown San Jose skyline and street scene.
The brutalist building case marks the second appeal that the preservationists have pending before the state appellate court, both involving properties in downtown San Jose.
In February 2021, the preservationists appealed a Santa Clara County court case that the group lost that had attempted to block the development of a hotel tower next to the historic De Anza Hotel in downtown San Jose.
In the De Anza Hotel appeal, the group filed its opening briefs just in time to avoid having the case tossed out by the state appellate court. The appeals court has posted a notice stating that it has received all of the legal briefs in the case. No hearings have been scheduled in the De Anza Hotel case, according to the public docket.
In the case of the brutalist structure, the preservation group had claimed the old building was an important example of the utilitarian style of architecture known as brutalism.
The preservation group filed a petition with the Santa Clara County Superior Court that sought to block the development until the city could conduct a further environmental review. But a judge cleared the way for the demolition of the building when he ruled against the preservation group.
The preservationists declared last year after losing the case that they believe it’s worthwhile to pursue an appeal even though the structure has been bulldozed.
“There are important issues at stake here that need to be addressed,” Ben Leech, executive director of the Preservation Action Council of San Jose, said in a November 2021 interview with this news organization.
For now, the brutalist building appeal remains alive, according to the preservation group’s attorney.
“The appeal is fully pending,” Susan Brandt-Hawley, the attorney for the Preservation Action Council of San Jose, said in an email to this news organization this week. “The opening brief is actually now due June 17.”
