SAN JOSE — The homeowners of a blighted constructing in downtown San Jose have launched a cleanup of the historic property as a prelude to renovating the broken construction.
The Lawrence Resort constructing at 69 by means of 89 East San Fernando St. between Second and Third streets is now the main focus of a wide-ranging effort to clear away blaze-scorched particles on the website, based on Joseph Castillo, a San Jose restaurant entrepreneur who’s a co-owner of the historic constructing.
A crane operates on the debris-filled second ground of the Lawrence Resort at 69 by means of 87 East San Fernando Road in downtown San Jose, as seen on Oct. 15, 2025. (Robert Summa/Bay Space Information Group)
“We have gotten all the permits we need to do the site cleanup and start the construction that the building needs,” Castillo mentioned.
In latest days, a crane towered over the constructing to help within the elimination of supplies from the second ground of the Lawrence Resort, a historic constructing that was constructed in 1893 that was closely broken by hearth in January 2021.
Road-level view of the Lawrence Resort constructing at 69 by means of 87 East San Fernando Road in downtown San Jose, as seen on Oct. 16, 2025. (George Avalos/Bay Space Information Group)
The burned-out resort has develop into a difficulty for San Jose political leaders who’ve raised alarms in regards to the metropolis’s persistent blight woes.
“The Lawrence Hotel has been sitting blighted for too long,” mentioned Bob Staedler, principal govt with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy. “The city really needs to make blight removal a priority. We need more than lip service.”
Critics of the town’s efforts to mitigate blighted buildings cite as a major instance the First Church of Christ Scientist at 43 East St. James St. in downtown San Jose.
The deserted historic constructing turned often called the “trash-bag church” on account of an enormous tarp that had lined the construction, which as soon as had been slated to be the focus of a housing growth subsequent to St. James Park.
Years of sizzling sunshine, winds and rain steadily shredded the tarp, reworking the previous church into one in all San Jose’s worst eyesores.
In 2023, development govt Jim Salata and several other colleagues took it upon themselves to take away the tarp, clear up polluting microplastics from the property, get rid of a few of the website’s particles, and restore a gap within the church’s roof.
No additional progress has materialized when it comes to further cleanup or restoration of the previous church, a property that’s owned by an affiliate of China-based actual property agency Z&L Properties.
On the Lawrence Resort website, Castillo seeks to return the historic lodging construction to its previous glory with a brand new crop of tenants.
“We will restore the building to how it was before the fire,” Castillo mentioned. “The Lawrence Hotel is historic, so we are going to preserve it. We will start the construction work on the inside of the building.”
The brand new imaginative and prescient for the resort may include eating institutions and retailers on the bottom ground. A rooftop bar is a chance for the second ground.
“It’s been a long time since the fire,” Castillo mentioned. “We are very excited to be starting this work.”
