Almaden Office Project | Woz Way

On the corner of Woz Way and Almaden Boulevard, on the outskirts of downtown San Jose, construction will soon begin on a 15 story, 2.1 million square foot office building, with 3 levels of underground parking. Due to the location of this project being in the public right of way during construction, K+W brought along a full design team at entitlements to determine all possible constraints and keep the process running smoothly.

K+W engineered the relocation of a 30-inch storm drain main from Almaden Boulevard to discharge in the Guadalupe River. Being one of the larger watersheds in the San Jose area, it will be able to better support this new development. Hydraulic models were run to ensure the feasibility of the relocation which resulted in upsizing the storm drain to be 36-inches. Plans were made to ensure that the storm drain was placed in a location where it could be easily maintained by the city and that the river embankment would have little to no impact.

Along with the relocation of the storm drain K+W also coordinated with the team on the vision of encouraging pedestrian-oriented development around the neighboring Guadalupe River Park. A podium deck will be installed around the building giving the developer flexibility and versatility with the outdoor space usage. This podium deck was designed to withstand the weight of a fire truck and construction equipment in case of an emergency and for future maintenance of the storm drain. The City of San Jose accepted all of K+W’s plans allowing for success of entitlements and a construction date for this project will soon be announced.

Project Location

Almaden Office Project | Woz Way
San Jose, CA

Market Sectors
  • Office
  • High-Rise
  • Mixed-Use
  • Retail
  • Changing the Skyline of DTSJ
Image Credits

Kohn Pedersen Fox

Recognitions
  • Relocate a 30inch storm drain main and upgrade to a 36inch drain, from Almaden Boulevard to the new discharge point in the Guadalupe River
  • Engineer a podium deck to withstand the load of a firetruck and also construction equipment for future maintenance of storm drain main
  • Ran hydraulic models, because the length of the pipe was overextended, causing the upsizing
  • Coordinated with Schaaf and Wheeler and Huffman Broadway on the impacts to the Guadalupe River embankment
  • The City successfully agreed with relocation and maintenance strategies of storm drain