Food hall in downtown San Jose includes kitchen, coffee bar and dining

SAN JOSE — A proposed downtown San Jose food hall by the Uber co-founder will include a dining center, coffee bar and dozens of kitchens, city planning documents show.

This unusual project is housed in a historic building at 82-96 East Santa Clara Streets in San Jose, built circa 1885.

Travis Kalanick, co-founder and former chief executive of ride-hailing company Uber, heads the CloudKitchens company developing the project in the former Odd Fellows Building on the corner of East Santa Clara Street and South Third Street. increase.

CloudKitchens typically rents out kitchen space in its stores to local restaurants and picks up and delivers food via apps like Doordash and Uber Eats.

Nick Goddard, senior vice president of commercial real estate firm Colliers, said, “With a growing residential population, more students in the area, and a slow return of employees to downtown San Jose offices, consumers have more choice. “This is a great opportunity for local eateries.”

According to the proposal, the proposed food hall will include an estimated 26 kitchens.

The project also includes an eat-in restaurant totaling about 1,000 square feet and a coffee bar next to the dining facility, city planning documents show. Some seating in the dining area is located next to some of the kitchen counters in the building.

According to the proposal, the downtown food hall will be located on the ground floor of a three-story building.

In 2018, a real estate venture led by Kalanick paid $7.3 million for a historic building, documents on file with the Santa Clara County Records Department show. At the time of the acquisition, investment firm Goldman Sachs provided $100 million in funding for the Kalanick-led group.

Downtown San Jose is starting to emerge from its coronavirus woes, but economic activity remains weaker than before the coronavirus outbreak.

Unique venues such as the CloudKitchens initiative are still struggling with the economic ailment that plagues downtown three years after coronavirus-related shutdowns imposed by state and local government agencies to combat the spread of deadly bugs. It may help dispel some.

“This is a great use of an old building,” said Goddard.