SAN JOSE -- A new casino, hotel and office complex that is being planned in north San Jose may have the Hilton name for the first of two hotels that will be built at the site, one of the property's developers said Monday.The site will consist of a 49-table casino, two hotels that together will total 414 rooms, and a nine-story office tower, said Brian Bumb, co-developer and principal executive of the group developing the site. The property is owned and being developed by an affiliate controlled by the Bumb Family of San Jose."We are working with Hilton," Bumb said about the first hotel, which would be seven stories and total 174 rooms. "They have given us site approval for their brands. We hope to secure a franchise agreement with Hilton in the next week or 10 days."The project would be built in two phases, with the casino to be completed and operating by September 2017 if all goes according to plan. The first hotel is due to open in early 2018.The new casino is located across U.S. 101 from the Bay 101 Club. The casino's lease at its current site will expire in November 2017."We're pushing the outer limits of getting this casino open in time, especially if we lose a couple of months due to the weather," Bumb said. "This El Niño could really goof us up."The Bumb Family has just filed an application for the second phase of complex. Phase two will consist of a second, 10-story hotel totaling 210 rooms and an office project totaling 240,000 square feet.Both hotels, the casino and the office tower are deemed crucial elements to San Jose's strategy for the north side of town, which is evolving into one of Silicon Valley's new hot spots for technology company expansions."Originally, that old hotel was the primary site for where corporate meetings happened in Silicon Valley because it was right by the airport and relatively easy to access," said Nanci Klein, San Jose's deputy director of economic development.As a result, the project sits at a key gateway leading to and from San Jose International Airport."This development is very much in line with the jobs and revenue and plans that the city has been seeking for years for north San Jose," Klein said.Tech company expansions in north San Jose, either completed or proposed, include Apple, Google and Samsung, In addition to these tech titans, a number of smaller companies, as well as rising upstarts, have located on the north side of the city or leased new offices there."We think the site will compete well for office tenants," Klein said.The offices, though, won't start until a tenant has agreed to rent the proposed office building, Bumb said.
"We would probably have to do a build to suit, and have a tenant signed, before we actually get financing for the office building and start construction," Bumb said.
The prospects for the hotels also look promising. Both of the future lodging facilities at the site would be full service hotels, Bumb said.
"Room rates are rising and room vacancies are declining," Klein said. "Hoteliers like the idea of being in this market."
Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167. Follow him at Twitter.com/georgeavalos.
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