Downtown San Jose - Business District

Business District

Downtown San Jose buildings are not allowed to exceed 27 stories in height (The 88 Tower is the tallest at 286 feet, one foot taller than City Hall), due to their close proximity to the Mineta San Jose International Airport flight path. Despite the height restrictions, the area is home to many of the city's landmarks, including the headquarters of Adobe Systems, BEA Systems, the San Jose Museum of Art, the Tech Museum of Innovation, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, the San Jose Repertory Theatre, the San Jose Stage Company, the historic De Anza Hotel, the Fairmont Hotel, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, the campus of San Jose State University and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. HP Pavilion at San Jose, just west of Guadalupe Parkway, is also normally considered to be part of the downtown community.

Downtown also is home to several important network service providers and Internet service providers, many of them located in Market Post Tower. Although the cost of office and technical space is relatively high downtown, this is offset by the low cost of peering and internetworking, an effect of proximity to other networking companies.

Many of the public areas of downtown San Jose are covered by a public, free, Wi-Fi network, including the areas surrounding Plaza de César Chávez and San Pedro Square. Downtown is also the hub of the VTA's light rail system, and the home of the main campus of San Jose State University. Many of the 19th century buildings in central downtown appear on the National Register of Historic Places, in particular the area surrounding St. James Park.

A daytime panoramic view of downtown San Jose from the top of Marriott Hotel.