A veteran developer has bought a building perched on a downtown San Jose site. That is the existing property for development near a transit village that Google has proposed.

Dinapoli Family LP has bought a parcel at the corner of South Almaden Boulevard and Park Avenue, which is near the Google village, Adobe’s office campus, hotels, restaurants, the Center for the Performing Arts and the Tech Museum.

According to Santa Clara County property records, the buyer has paid over $11.5 million for the site at 200 Park Ave., on May 31.

The new owner is an affiliate of JP DiNapoli, whose president is veteran Bay Area developer John DiNapoli. The seller was 200 Park Avenue, a group controlled by developer Terrence Rose.

At present, the building has graffiti and window frames covered with plywood.

Google Wants the Downtown San Jose Spot in Spite of Its Condition

Nevertheless, the property’s corner location, along with the prospect of being next to a Museum Place, is enticing. It proposes the development of offices, hotel rooms, and residences, meaning that it certainly is ripe for redevelopment.

“Is it a hotel site? Is it a residential site? It could be either,” Ritchie, president of San Jose-based Ritchie Commercial, a realty firm, said. “It’s a little too small for an office building. But this is a great place to build.”

Ritchie is familiar with the parcel because, in 1997, Ritchie arranged the sale of the site to Rose. According to Ritchie, Rose had grand plans for the property.

“Terry Rose wanted to build a luxury hotel in downtown San Jose, he tried for years to get it off the ground,” Ritchie said. “He wanted it to be a Nob Hill type hotel, and we even looked at San Francisco buildings to see how a hotel could be built there.”

It’s a High Quality Location

Whatever might go up there, observers believe the location is among the best in downtown San Jose.

“It’s a prime corner, it’s an important development site, a great location,” said Bob Staedler. Staedler is the principal executive of San Jose-based Silicon Valley Synergy, a land uses a planning consultancy.

Nearby, some key developments will emerge in the coming years.

Mountain View-based Google plans a transit-oriented community of offices, homes, retail, and restaurants, a development of 6 million to 8 million square feet where 15,000 to 20,000 of the search giant’s employees could eventually work in downtown San Jose near the Diridon train station and the SAP Center, an entertainment and sports complex.

Adobe Systems intends to expand its 3-building downtown San Jose headquarters campus by adding a 4^th office tower on a lot adjacent to the tech company’s existing complex.

“This is the beauty of where downtown San Jose is, with the Google bounce,” Staedler said.