Jim Fox didn’t follow the real estate maxim of buying the most dilapidated property on an already improved block and fixing it up. He was a pioneer who was not afraid to invest ahead of the market to transform a neighborhood. It was Jim Fox who in the 1970s turned a seedy block on Santa Clara Street into a attractive destination that’s today home to such businesses as Muchos restaurant and Dive Bar. In the 1990s, Fox turned a windowless eyesore and pigeon habitat, the De Anza Hotel, into one of downtown San Jose’s leading luxury properties, meticulously restoring the Hedley Lounge, a masterpiece of classic California architecture with hand-painted ceilings. When he built the Century Commons apartments on Second Street, he contrasted contemporary minimalism with old San Jose architecture. Last year, Fox was awarded a Golden Nail award for his restoration of the Sainte Claire Apartments above Original Joe’s. He bypassed cheaper aluminum-framed doors for steel ones, preserved old brass mail chutes and celebrated every detail, from cracked terazzos to chipped painted business names on fluted glass doors. He brought in North Beach’s Caffe Trieste as a new tenant and worked to retain a small newspaper and cigar stand whose existence had been threatened by renovation plans of the building’s previous owner. He kept his office above the streets that he walked, and conducted business with a personal touch. In the past year, he was frequently seen on South First Street, helping to bring the SoFA district back to life. People who knew the vital and always busy Fox were stunned to learn this weekend that Fox had passed away Nov. 25 of a recently discovered cancer. He was 61.
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