IBM Almaden Research Center<\/a> at 650 Harry Road.<\/p>\nThe city panel decided to give 35.1 acres of the site a new designation of \u201cindustrial park zoning district\u201d and 565.1 surrounding acres of vacant land a new designation of \u201copen space zoning district.\u201d<\/p>\n
The zoning change doesn\u2019t by itself approve any specific projects. The revamped designations, however, pave the way for the location of the IBM research center to be redeveloped or repurposed while the empty land nearby would remain pristine.<\/p>\n
Still, even ahead of the City Council\u2019s rezoning approval on Aug. 18, multiple real estate executives have chatted with San Jose planners about potential development opportunities regarding the research center building.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been a number of conversations regarding this property around the future use,\u201d according to San Jose Planning Director Christopher Burton. \u201cIBM has decided to dispose of this site.\u201d<\/p>\n
The property became available after IBM decided to close the research hub, shift workers to its Silicon Valley Lab at 555 Bailey Road, on the edges of Coyote Valley in San Jose, and put the Alamden Research property on the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of different groups that have inquired about different types of uses on this site,\u201d Burton said. \u201cThey are looking to maximize the opportunities from the sale of the site.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erik Schoennauer, a land-use consultant who represents an investment group that might buy some or all of the site, said the request to rezone the property has two primary goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is to preserve the open space as it exists today. No changes,\u201d Schoennauer said. \u201cSecond, to allow the industrial site to be put back into economic use in an efficient manner quickly. All this request does is align the property with the general plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hazards could emerge should the property remain vacant over a protracted period, Schoennauer warned the City Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cA vacant site would be susceptible to vandalism and homeless people starting fires in the building, which we experience all over our city,\u201d Schoennauer said.<\/p>\n
At least 30 people spoke during the hearing. The vast majority expressed opposition to a swift rezoning of the 600-plus acres.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is too consequential a decision to rush,\u201d said Linda Hutchins, one of the foes of the rezoning efforts. \u201cThis opens a Pandora\u2019s box. Don\u2019t rush. Take your time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research center totals 544,500 square feet, according to Cushman & Wakefield marketing materials. Uses such as industrial, research and development, a data center, advanced manufacturing, and general office could emerge at the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re concerned that rezoning this land to industrial park could lead to data centers and other harmful industrial uses,\u201d said Dashiell Leeds, a San Jose resident and a Sierra Club conservation coordinator.<\/p>\n
Some speakers were skeptical that the City Council would really be able to keep the empty land undeveloped.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen space zoning does not equate to permanent protection,\u201d Lena Drape, a conservation specialist with the Open Space Authority Santa Clara Valley, said during the hearing.<\/p>\n
By happenstance, the IBM research hub already has a data center inside the site, according to a speaker who identified himself as Roland, a San Jose resident and former IBM employee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe research lab was supported by a massive data center from day one,\u201d Roland said. \u201cNobody outside of IBM knew that the data center was there because it was inside the building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Rosemary Kamei urged a delay in the rezoning to give the public a greater chance to become aware of the issues and the proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the rush?\u201d Kamei said before the public comments. As the hearing drew to a close, Kamei said, \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that in this circumstance we are not allowing more time to have conversations with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Councilmember George Casey, whose district includes the IBM site, noted that the zoning request was inevitable, whether the approval came today or in two weeks as Kamei requested.<\/p>\n
\u201cBad news doesn\u2019t age well,\u201d Casey said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be performative just to give people an opportunity to vent when it\u2019s not going to actually change anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those remarks quickly drew boos and protests from some audience members, which prompted Mayor Matt Mahan to gavel the meeting back to order.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us want to see what IBM intended to keep as open space forevermore, to see that protected,\u201d Mayor Mahan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated zoning at the IBM Almaden Research Center at 650 Harry Road in South San Jose. The small…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[54395,184,387,7,8,3010,19628,1335,28194,1533,181,23,100,388,88,90,89,5406,198,94685,200,201,1970],"class_list":["post-437286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-almaden-valley","tag-bay-area","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-commercial-real-estate","tag-data-centers","tag-development","tag-ibm","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-real-estate","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-real-estate","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-social-alert","tag-south-bay","tag-south-san-jose","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Updated](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787143809_131_SJM-L-SJSIBMPLAN-01.jpg\")
Updated zoning at the IBM Almaden Research Center at 650 Harry Road in South San Jose. The small rectangular site is designated as IP, or Industrial Park. The large surrounding area is rezoned as OSPH (Open Space, Parklands, Habitat). (City of San Jose)\u00a0![\"IBM](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787143809_689_SJM-L-SJSIBMALMADEN-01.jpg\")
IBM Almaden Research Center at 650 Harry Road in South San Jose, bird’s-eye view. (Google Maps)\u00a0<\/p>\n