‘Rotting’ San Jose bus depot has new owner that eyes housing project

SAN JOSE A long-abandoned bus terminal in San Jose is now owned by the property s lender an entity that s headed up by real estate executives who say they are prepared to develop hundreds of homes on the prime site Related Articles Two tech companies find new San Jose offices for their headquarters Owners launch cleanup revamp of blighted San Jose historic property Manufacturing research and industrial hub may replace San Jose offices Walnut Creek apartments sold to East Coast buyer for million-plus San Jose housing tower faces auction and foreclosure over failed loan The lender a Texas-based affiliate of a group whose authorities include real estate developer Chris Jiashu Xu and business executive William Wang has taken ownership of the former Greyhound terminal in downtown San Jose through a foreclosure The new owner foreclosed on a delinquent million loan for the property documents filed on Oct with the Santa Clara County Recorder s Office show An affiliate of real estate firm Z L Properties had owned the site for several years prior to the foreclosure San Jose leaders had prevously approved a -unit housing advance on the bus terminal property whose addresses include and South Almaden Ave The Pacific a -unit residential tower at - South Almaden Avenue in downtown San Jose concept CBRE The new owners stated in a U S Bankruptcy Court filing that they were ready to build a residential tower project of that sort The vacant land at issue is a rotting empty former Greyhound Station the lender stated in a Sept declaration it filed with the bankruptcy court If allowed to proceed with a foreclosure the lender has the support to develop this piece of property as originally entitled The housing tower that Z L Properties had proposed never broke ground Over the years the old bus terminal was covered with graffiti and city bureaucrats raised concerns that the parcel was yet another site of blight in San Jose Z L lacked the ability or maximum to develop on the Greyhound site stated Bob Staedler principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy a land-use consultancy It wasn t a surprise to anyone that the lender took the property back China-based Z L Properties put up a considerable legal battle to attempt to ward off the foreclosure The real estate firm s affiliate filed two Chapter federal bankruptcy proceedings and also sued in Santa Clara County court The court fights all proved futile however It also appears that Z L lost a considerable amount of money in the form of its equity that was erased by the foreclosure The Z L affiliate claimed that it spent million in land purchase and pre-construction sessions Ultimately the Xu- and Wang-led group that foreclosed on the loan bought the property in a foreclosure proceeding that placed a value of million on the property Let s see if the lender holds the property for a period of time and flips it or starts off on the progress process Staedler noted The city of San Jose should allow the new owners to demolish the site and remove the eyesore from downtown The bus station foreclosure means the once-extensive real estate empire that Z L Properties had owned in San Jose has now been reduced to a single known property in the South Bay s largest city First Church of Christ Scientist at East St James St in downtown San Jose Karl Mondon Bay Area News Group An affiliate of Z L still owns an old historic church at East St James St Z L had proposed a double-tower housing advance of that property a project that also would have renovated the old church Yet like multiple other Z L endeavors in San Jose that project has fizzled and the old church remains a forlorn structure next to an unkempt field in downtown San Jose