"A crane operates on the debris-filled second floor of the Lawrence Hotel at 69 through 87 East San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose, as seen on Oct. 15, 2025. (Robert Summa/Bay Area News Group) We have gotten all the permits we need to do the site cleanup and start the construction that the building needs, Castillo said. In recent days, a crane towered over the building to assist in the removal of materials from the second floor of the Lawrence Hotel, a historic building that was constructed in 1893 that was heavily damaged by fire in January 2021."
"We hope to be completed with the cleanup in about a year, Castillo said in an interview with this news organization. The burned-out hotel has become an issue for San Jose political leaders who have raised alarms about the city's persistent blight woes. The Lawrence Hotel has been sitting blighted for too long, said Bob Staedler, principal executive 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."
Owners of the Lawrence Hotel at 69 through 89 East San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose began a wide-ranging cleanup of blaze-scorched debris and structural removal. A crane has been used to remove materials from the debris-filled second floor of the 1893 building that was heavily damaged by a January 2021 fire. Owners report securing necessary permits and expect cleanup to take about a year. City political leaders and planning consultants have cited the burned-out hotel as an example of persistent downtown blight and urged prioritization of blight removal beyond rhetoric. Nearby historic blighted properties draw similar criticism.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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