Electric vehicle firm eyes San Jose site near Google village footprint

Electric vehicle firm eyes San Jose site near Google village footprint

SAN JOSE — A maker of electric vehicles is eyeing a possible business venture at a high-profile site in downtown San Jose around the corner from the footprint of a proposed Google transit village.

Lucid Motors has filed a proposal for a development endeavor at 250 Stockton Avenue in downtown San Jose, according to documents on file with the city Planning Department.

The city documents provided nearly no details regarding the proposal beyond the location. Seth King of Lucid Motors was listed as the applicant. King is the Lucid Motors senior counsel for global zoning, land use and licensing, according to King’s LinkedIn page.

Sales and repairs of vehicles would be viable activities at this location, according to commercial property experts who are familiar with the downtown San Jose market as well as this part of the city’s urban core.

This news organization requested a comment from Lucid Motors, which is a unit of Newark-based Lucid Group.

In 2023, Lucid delivered 6,001 vehicles and produced 8,428 vehicles, the company reported on Jan. 11. In 2022, Lucid delivered 4,369 vehicles and produced 7,180 vehicles.

The building totals 92,500 square feet, according to a marketing brochure circulated by Colliers, a commercial real estate firm. This overall amount consists of a ground floor totaling 47,500 square feet and a basement 45,000 square feet in size, the listing shows.

At one point, a 910,000-square-foot, 15-story office tower was proposed for that location.

However, speculative office buildings now have murky prospects at a time when tech companies have curbed hiring or launched layoffs, prompting these firms to also slash their workplace footprints.

The meltdown of the office markets in the Bay Area is a catastrophe that’s been compounded by wobbly capital markets for the construction and financing of commercial properties.

As a result, property owners are attempting to identify ways they can reposition their properties and use the existing sites rather than attempt to develop a new office building.