SAN JOSE — A big telecommunications networking and tech company has leased space in a prominent downtown San Jose office tower, according to public real estate records.
Ciena Corp. has rented office space at 50 West, a highrise located at 50 West San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose, documents on file with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.
The Ciena leasing agreement represents a welcome counterpoint to the dreary landscape of vacant storefronts, empty office sites and underutilized restaurant spaces in downtown San Jose.
Companies are engaged in an uneven return to the office in the wake of government-mandated business lockdowns to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.
Downtown San Jose’s office vacancy rate was 16.9% during the January-through-March first quarter of 2023, an improvement from the 17% office vacancy level in the October-through-December fourth quarter of 2022, Cresa, a commercial real estate firm, reported.
During both of the survey periods, however, the vacancy rate in downtown San Jose was considerably higher than was the case for Silicon Valley overall, Cresa determined.
Silicon Valley’s office vacancy rate was 14.1% in the first quarter of 2023, which was worse than the 13.2% vacancy rate in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Cresa’s market research.
Because of the stubbornly high office vacancies in downtown San Jose, a leasing deal by a company that wasn’t previously in the city’s downtown is an encouraging result.
Ciena has an office site located at 3939 North First Street in north San Jose, Google searches and maps show.
The office building where Ciena leased space is being marketed by Newmark commercial real estate brokers Phil Mahoney and Michael Saign. The Newmark brokers declined to comment about the leasing deal.
Ciena has begun tenant improvements in its office space, documents on file with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.
The 50 West office tower is owned by an affiliate headed up by veteran real estate development and investment firm Jay Paul Co. The 18-story highrise totals 356,200 square feet, according to the LoopNet commercial property listing service.
In 2019, the Jay Paul Co. affiliate paid $238 million for the 50 West San Fernando office tower, county documents show.
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