SAN JOSE — The owner of a downtown San Jose site that has been on the city’s radar as a problem property and public nuisance for more than six years now faces fines and penalties because of its condition.

Hundreds of housing units have been proposed for a site at 70 S. Almaden Ave., the location of a former Greyhound bus terminal, but they were never built.

“The vacant property is located on a frequently traveled downtown street and is highly visible,” a city code enforcement report states. “The unmaintained property constitutes an attraction to unauthorized or other persons, creates a condition of accessibility to the vacant property and constitutes an ongoing attractive nuisance.”

Full Standard Properties, an affiliate of China-based real estate company Z&L Properties, is in default on a $19.5 million loan that Shanghai Commercial Bank provided to the affiliate in 2019 for the project. Because of the loan default, Shanghai Commercial Bank may employ a foreclosure proceeding to auction off the property or take ownership of the site.

Because of its condition, San Jose city code compliance officers released a series of recommendations and the city’s Appeals Hearing Board scheduled a meeting to review the property and possibly order enforcement action.

“From November of 2018 through December of 2024, the subject property was monitored for blight as part of the Neglected Vacant Building and Storefronts Monitoring Program,” the city report states. “During this period, code enforcement observed graffiti present on the structure for extended amounts of time.”

The city demanded that the property owner pay an administrative penalty of $10,000 by June 15. If the property owner fails to comply, the owner will be obliged to pay additional penalties of $1,000 a day, up to a maximum amount of $100,000.

It’s also possible the owner might have to pay up to $2,500 a day until the problems are remedied.

“The Greyhound property has been an eyesore for way too many years,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with land use consultant Silicon Valley Synergy. “The city of San Jose needs to hold delinquent property owners accountable.”

Full Standard Properties, the Z&L affiliate, never broke ground on the city-approved housing tower totaling 708 units at the shuttered Greyhound bus depot.

“When can we expect a more robust enforcement action to take place?” Staedler said. “The downtown stakeholders deserve better.”

Z&L Properties burst on the scene several years ago with grand plans to develop a series of housing towers in downtown San Jose. City planners and politicians embraced the proposals and approved the downtown residential towers.

So far, the affiliates of Z&L’s Properties have broken ground on just one project, a double-tower housing high-rise at 188 W. St. James St. that isn’t fully complete. The residential high-rise complex is also in default on its loan and faces foreclosure.

The other proposed Z&L projects include the following:

• 43 E. St. James St.: Z&L agreed to protect and renovate an old church at this site next to St. James Park, but instead has neglected the historic building and allowed it to fall into disrepair. Z&L has also failed to develop housing towers on the site.

• Terraine Street and Bassett Street: Z&L had proposed a large housing development but never broke ground. Z&L eventually sold the property near San Pedro Square to a real estate alliance of global developer Westbank and Bay Area developers Gary Dillabough, Tony Arreola and Mark Lazzarini.

• In 2017, a Z&L affiliate paid $25 million for the 3,654-acre Richmond Ranch in southeast San Jose. In January 2024, the Z&L affiliate sold it for $16 million through an intricate plan to eventually enable the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency and the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department to buy the property. Z&L never disclosed its game plan for owning it.