SAN JOSE — San Jose officials have launched fresh measures to pursue a cleanup of a blighted downtown site occupied by a historic church that for years has been neglected by a China-based real estate firm.
The abandoned property at 39 and 43 East St. James St. in downtown San Jose features a historic church on a site where a troubled real estate firm has proposed the development of two housing towers that never have been built.
San Jose officials have harshly criticized the owner of the site, an affiliate controlled by China-based real estate firm Z&L Properties, for allowing the church to decay with neglect and abandonment.
Along with a failure to renovate, salvage and preserve the old church, Z&L Properties also never came through with a proposal to develop a two-tower residential complex with hundreds of units.
For years, the tatters of a deteriorating tarp draped the sides of the church, turning the property into an eyesore that irked and alarmed neighbors and passersby in the St. James Park area.
In 2023, San Jose construction executive Jim Salata led an effort to remove the tarp, patch a hole in the roof and remove debris and plastic from the church and its adjacent vacant lot and parking area.
Despite the red flags arising from the abandoned property, San Jose city staffers have failed to take any major action to force Z&L Properties to protect the old church.
That may be about to change. The San Jose Code Enforcement Division has begun a process — potentially tedious — that eventually might accomplish a city takeover of the property.
Municipal staffers have imposed liens against the property, according to documents filed on Dec. 10 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office. The site is bounded by East St. James, North Second, Devine and North First streets.
The liens were filed because the site’s owner, the affiliate of Z&L Properties, has failed to pay more than $142,000 in fines, penalties and lien fees associated with the real estate firm’s ownership and management of the property.
San Jose officials are taking action because they believe the property has become an eyesore — a problem that has been ongoing for years.
“The city should have gotten here a long time ago,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy. “It will be interesting to see if this actually moves the needle on this site.”
Municipal officials have launched an effort that bears similarities to the city’s endeavors regarding a downtown San Jose property near the corner of North Fourth Street and East St. John Street.
This property a few blocks away from the old church site has over recent years been the scene of at least three fires, including one that burned down two Victorian-era houses, a gunshot attack, homeless camps, a debris field, dog attack and the emergence of lead and asbestos toxic materials.
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San Jose hopes a court-appointed receiver will oversee a full cleanup of the 100 North Fourth St. property, which the city believes has been neglected for years. Saratoga business executive Brent Lee, through an affilaite, owns the North Fourth site.
City legal experts even believe the receiver could eventualy seize control of the North Fourth site so it could be sold to a new owner that would ensure the property is properly maintained and secured and even be developed.
The liens at the old church site next to St. James Park mean all of the San Jose sites owned by affiliates headed up by Z&L Properties are under clouds of potential foreclosure proceedings, litigation, and delinquent financing that threaten the company’s future control of the parcels.
The liens that the city has filed against the old church property represent a crucial stage in the process to clean up the site, in Staedler’s view.
“This is a step the city has to take,” Staedler said. “The city has to have standards and to hold people to account. A property can’t just sit like this. Z&L has been given every chance in the world to do the right thing and they just haven’t done it.”
For now, however, the old church, which is a historic landmark, remains abandoned in a forlorn state, with no certain outcome for the property.
“All it takes is the eye test of walking past the property and seeing its condition,” Staedler said. “It’s a tinder box that could burn at any time due to the negligence of the property owner.”
