SAN JOSE >> The Western Dental Building in downtown San Jose, which has been vacant for years, is poised to enjoy a revival now that three health care businesses have set up shop at the site.

Dental Specialties Institute, Dental Perfections and Scrublyfe Uniforms have opened their doors inside the two-story building at 48 E. Santa Clara St.

“This is quite a transformation,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said at an event to mark the opening of Dental Specialties Institute. “A few months ago, this corner was bringing down the neighborhood. Now it’s bright and colorful.”

The three dental-oriented businesses all are owned by Samantha Belloso, a business entrepreneur who recently bought Dental Specialties Institute. The institute offers an array of dental training programs, certified courses and continuing education.

“We have a large list of registrations waiting to get into classes,” Belloso said.

Belloso said she prefers downtown San Jose to a more suburban setting.

“I decided to come to downtown San Jose as we are very affiliated in the area with many entrepreneurs, leaders and many of the colleges and schools we service for scrub uniforms,” Belloso said.

The former Western Dental building is owned by an LLC operating as San Jose-based Thanh Cong Investments. The business entity bought the property in 2014 for about $3.2 million.

“It is great to see an active reuse of this building in downtown San Jose,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with land-use consultancy company Silicon Valley Synergy. “The dental training students can use transit to get there and should help nearby businesses get more foot traffic.”

Jeanne Lazzarini, a former West Coast editor of Victorian Homes Magazine, led efforts on behalf of the San Jose Downtown Association to work with the owners of the Western Dental Building to restore the property so it would blend with the rest of that stretch of East Santa Clara Street. Local developer Ted McMahon also was involved in the endeavor.

Lazzarini also has worked on the color schemes of other buildings on that block.

“As a longtime resident of downtown San Jose, it has been a tremendous opportunity to celebrate and enhance its architectural history,” Lazzarini said.

The deal to bring the trio of health care businesses to the location helps to further the city’s efforts to fill the many empty ground floors throughout downtown San Jose.

“There are still vacant storefronts,” Mahan said. “It’s a work in progress, but we are steadily plugging away to make this stretch of the downtown safe, clean and vibrant.”

The idea of using a student-oriented business to help activate sections of downtown San Jose is an approach that appears to be working elsewhere in the city’s urban heart, Staedler said.

“A training facility is a great retail use,” Staedler said. “Market Square has a Cinta Aveda institute in its ground floor retail which brings in foot traffic to the San Pedro Square area.”

Students also are deemed to be helpful when they populate residential hubs. One case in point is the lively Spartan Village on The Paseo, a former hotel high-rise that now houses students at 184 S. Market St.

Belloso said she hopes the dental organizations she owns can help the city achieve its quest to create more vibrancy in downtown San Jose.

“Dental Specialties Institute is eager and ready to bring positive change to this corner of Second and Santa Clara,” Belloso said. “We are opening our facility to the community and are building a large training facility to serve as many individuals as we can, to change their lives as they start a new career.”

Mahan said downtown can become more than an urban core just for San Jose, it can be a gathering place for the entire South Bay region.

“We are going to continue to realize our potential as the urban center, the downtown for all of Silicon Valley,” Mahan said.