Preservation Action Council of San Jose v. City of San Jose

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Project and Project Site The project is located on an approximately eight-acre site at City View Plaza (originally Park Center Plaza) in downtown San Jose. Constructed between 1968 and 1985, the former Park Center Plaza was one of San Jose’s first redevelopment sites. It contained the Bank of California (also known as the Sumitomo Bank Building) (Bank), which was built in 1971 as a bank and which later housed the Santa Clara County Family Court. As part of the project’s review process, the City of San Jose (City or San Jose) identified City View Plaza, in its entirety, and four of its individual buildings—including the Bank—as candidate city landmarks. The Bank also was identified as eligible for listing on the California Register of Historic Resources and National Register of Historic Places. City View Plaza itself consisted of nine buildings, comprising occupied office and commercial/retail use, over a single-level underground parking garage. In April 2019, City View applied for a site development permit for the project. The site development permit provided that the project would require the demolition of all

2 Unspecified statutory…