Second fire in a month burns vacant Bo Town building in downtown San Jose

SAN JOSE — A second-alarm blaze broke out at a vacant former restaurant in downtown San Jose Thursday morning, the second time in a month the building has caught fire, according to the San Jose Fire Department.

The blaze was reported at 7:44 a.m., according to a social media post from SJFD. The fire was under control by 8:11 a.m., said Jake Pisani, public information officer for SJFD.

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The commercial building is at the intersection of South 2nd Street and East San Salvador Street, and is the former site of Bo Town Seafood, which closed in 2019 after 30 years of business.

On Sept. 26, the vacant restaurant building caught fire in a second-alarm blaze.

Development company Urban Community purchased the building in July 2019 and planned to build a residential tower and mixed-used space next to it. The proposed development would retain the structure of the Bo Town Seafood building, which was a mid-century build with elements inspired by the space-age, and incorporate it into the design of the new tower. The project was approved by the San Jose City Council in 2022.

There were no reported injuries and no one was displaced, Pisani said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. There is not yet a damage estimate.

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