For years, San Jose city leaders have envisioned St. James Park with an outdoor pavilion, café and dog parks as they eagerly anticipated the transformation of the shabby gathering site into an iconic destination in the core of downtown.
But whether that grandiose dream will ever be realized is still uncertain.
Nearly four years after the city hired a firm to draft the park’s redesign, San Jose has secured less than 15% of the whopping estimated price tag of $59.1 million.
Constructed in the late-1800s, the 7.5-acre park was planned as a flourishing haven and public square for residents of San Jose to come together. Surrounded by some of the city’s most important buildings at the time, the park witnessed some of San Jose’s best and worst historic events — from an infamous lynching of two accused murderers in 1933 to speeches by President William McKinley and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
But over the decades, the park deteriorated and became afflicted by crime, blight and homelessness.
“You have to think of this as a 100-year investment as a jewel of the San Jose park system and one that I think that most folks would agree needs some love,” said Scott Knies, the longtime head of the San Jose Downtown Association. “If there is a park in the city that really could benefit from going big, it’s St. James Park.”
In late 2016, San Jose selected CMG Landscape Architecture to revamp the park. The firm provided a grand vision of residents enjoying an outdoor concert, hosting family picnics, grabbing a coffee at the park cafe and taking their dogs to one of two dog parks all within St. James’ grounds.
City officials had initially hoped the redesign project would break ground sometime this year, but without significant funding, the project’s timeline has been pushed back and is unclear at this point.
Of the estimated $59.1 million cost of the project — currently under environment review — the city so far has $7 million set aside in funding.
“One of the things that I need to do over the next 4-5 months as the EIR is finalized is to figure out the funding strategy for this,” said Nicolle Burnham, deputy director of capital programs for the city. “How do we move forward or do we move it forward? Do we move it forward in phases and if so, what does that look like?”
Burnham said the city will also explore partnering with those in the private sector to support the park’s development, following a model used for completing large urban parks in cities across the country.
Councilman Raul Peralez, who represents downtown San Jose, said he supports phasing in the project and thinks that through the environmental review some aspects of the proposal may be dropped.
The Levitt Foundation, an organization aimed at reinvigorating public spaces across the country by providing seed money for cities to build outdoor entertainment venues, has “verbally committed” to fundraise $2 million for the city, according to Burnham.
The Levitt Pavilion proposed for St. James Park would accommodate 50 to 300 events annually — from film festivals to concerts to dance and theater performances. The larger events would hold up to 5,000 people, according to the report.
But building and maintaining a “Levitt Pavilion” — which entails an extensive list of requirements — is the most expensive aspect of the city’s plans for St. James Park. And if the city opts not to build a Levitt Pavilion, the foundation’s $2 million contribution would not come.
When considering what items may need to be struck from the proposal, Peralez said the Levitt Pavilion is one he will be looking at closely.
“I want to see it (the pavilion) happen, but I don’t want to see that as the detriment of getting the park renovation completed,” the councilman said. “I think we’re getting close to a reality check, and I think we may have to see if there are other ways to value engineer the design in ways to make it more affordable.”
If the city decides to move forward with the entire scope of the project proposals, the redesign would cause “significant and unavoidable” impacts on the historic character of the site as well as an increase in noise for the surrounding community members, according to the environmental impact report released earlier this month.
To reduce the amount of extra noise expected by events at the pavilion, the report proposes ending all events at 10 p.m. It also provides a range of alternatives, including forgoing events in the park, building an enclosed pavilion and moving the pavilion to Discovery Meadow at the southern end of the Guadalupe River Park.
Despite the noise impacts, Peralez said he is adamant about having an entertainment pavilion built on the park grounds.
“We need to strike a balance that gets us to something that’s acceptable to the immediate community,” he said, “but also helps us create a vibrant park and space that we have all been longing for.”
Events at the park are expected to generate nearly 2,000 additional vehicle trips, including 550 during peak evening commute hours, and lead to cars piling up at the intersection of Fourth Street and St. James Street, according to the report. To alleviate the gridlock on those evenings, traffic analysts urge the city to convert the southbound left-turn lane on Fourth Street to a shared through, left-turn lane.
The redesign calls for closing off vehicular traffic on 2nd street from East St. James to East St. Johns streets, building a mid-block pedestrian crosswalk on Third Street, and eliminating a standard bike lane along a section of the park on East St. Johns Street to make room for wider sidewalks.
The public review period for the project’s draft environmental impact report end on July 6. Written comments or questions can be sent to Thai-Chau Le at Thai-Chau.Le@sanjoseca.gov. To view the full EIR click here.
