New entertainment district can help transform downtown San Jose economy: developer

SAN JOSE — Developing and promoting a vibrant “entertainment district” could help revitalize and transform San Jose’s urban core and help revive the area’s economy as it attempts to recover from coronavirus-linked maladies, a busy developer says.

An array of entertainment venues are already active and operating in downtown San Jose, said developer Gary Dillabough, who has ventured into the city’s urban core with a number of real estate projects. And the downtown has vibrant areas like San Pedro Square and SoFA, an arts and culture district, that draw visitors.

But Dillabough, co-founder and chief executive officer with Urban Community, a real estate development and investment firm, believes San Jose now needs effective and consistent city leadership to help usher in the reality of a new, cohesive entertainment district.

“To achieve this goal is relatively straightforward,” Dillabough said. “What is required is a centralized organization that has the vision and expertise to attract and accommodate extraordinary talent.”

Dillabough thinks Team San Jose, the municipal organization that oversees the convention center and other downtown venues, is the type of city group that should begin to exercise that sort of leadership.

In the past, talented entertainers have all too often bypassed downtown San Jose and instead appeared at venues in the South Bay’s suburbs, Dillabough said.

“We should be able to outperform venues like the Mountain Winery (in Saratoga), Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheatre, San Francisco, Coachella and Bottlerock,” Dillabough said.

Adding to San Jose’s pedigree: The city has the nation’s 10th largest population; is home to and near some of the world’s largest companies, including Adobe; and is the location of a top-notch educational institution, San Jose State University. The city also has more than two dozen venues and, Dillabough pointed out, some of the best weather in the country.

“San Jose’s residents and workforce deserve the best entertainment district in the state if not the western United States,” Dillabough said.

Other developers and officials agree the creation of a downtown-wide entertainment district might help the city emerge from the pandemic.

“Anything that we can collectively do to improve the quality of life downtown makes sense,” said Mark Ritchie, president of Ritchie Commercial, a real estate firm. “Entertainment would be part of that.”

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, during a recent interview with this news organization, said that downtown San Jose must evolve into a place with compelling attractions and activities every day of the year.

“People need a predictable environment,” Mahan said. “Any time a resident or a visitor is in our downtown, there should be at least one really interesting thing to go do that day — 365 days a year of programming.”