Apr. 15—SAN JOSE — An East Bay investor bought the site of a former men's bathhouse in San Jose for a price that suggests real estate values remain weak for many types of commercial properties.
The property at 1010 The Alameda was purchased by Narayan Group, a business entity headed up by Livermore resident and investor Sanjay Bhanvadia, for just under $2.5 million, documents filed on April 14 with the Santa Clara County Recorder's Office show.
In recent years, Briggs Development launched a redevelopment of the property that converted the former bathhouse into a small office building.
An Arizona-based business group that paid $2.4 million for the converted office building in September 2025 was the seller.
In 2021, Briggs Development paid $4 million for the former bathhouse.
The recent transaction is a reminder of the slide in office building values throughout the Bay Area.
"This is an example of people buying commercial real estate at one-third its replacement value," said Mark Ritchie, president of San Jose-based real estate firm Ritchie Commercial. "They believe this will pay off at these low prices."
The nosedive in value suggests the property might suffer a decline in its assessed valuation, which has implications for local government agencies and the services they provide.
If real estate values falter in a community, the decline could imperil a crucial revenue stream from property taxes for cities, counties, regional agencies, and school districts.
The Alameda building consists primarily of 10,900 square feet of office space that can be divided into as many as four office suites, according to a marketing brochure by Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate firm.
"This is really now built only for office-type use after the conversion," Ritchie said.
The property also features four breakout rooms, a courtyard and an outdoor seating area. Despite upgrades to the property, it has remained empty since the bathhouse shut its doors in 2020.
The owners of the bathhouse, known as Watergarden, blamed the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic for the demise of the venue after 43 years of operation as a men's health club.
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