The tech industry retrenchment appears to have done little to curb developer enthusiasm for Silicon Valley's office market, with many hitting the gas on ambitious proposals even as the region's primary tenants slam on the brakes.

Bay West Development is the latest to add to the region's construction pipeline with its plans for a multi-building office campus spanning 2 million square feet in San Jose, California. Planning officials cleared the San Francisco-based firm to break ground on its project to overhaul a former Fry's Electronics retail site at 550 East Brokaw Road.

As approved, the project involves demolishing the existing 213,626-square-foot retail property and adjacent parking structure to clear room for seven eight-story office buildings and two parking structures that can collectively accommodate nearly 5,390 vehicles, according to planning documents.

“We’re excited to push this project forward and continue to bring an employment center to this area of North San Jose and continue the work that’s already happening around this area,” Bay West Development Partner Bryon Wolf said, referencing the neighborhood's recent construction boom.

San Jose has become a hotbed for new development in recent years thanks to plentiful available land — which isn't the case in most Silicon Valley suburbs — and demand from tech companies that had outgrown their corporate headquarters.

More than 4.2 million square feet of high-end office space has been added to San Jose's inventory over the past decade, according to CoStar data, and tech giants including Google, Apple and TikTok parent company ByteDance have long-term expansion plans for the city.

However, some of those expansion plans were drafted in the pandemic-related frenzy of record revenue spikes, unprecedented hiring and strong demand for large blocks of space. Big tech companies that responded by making steep investments in their workforces and real estate portfolios are now pulling back on capital expenditures and focusing instead on increasing profitability.

While the shift has cast some uncertainty over the future of Silicon Valley's office market, it hasn't been enough to dissuade developers such as Bay West Development from betting on the region's long-term durability.

The Brokaw Road property had been the corporate headquarters for Fry's, which announced in February 2021 that it would cease operations and began to wind down its business, citing changes in the retail industry and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to CoStar data, Fry's Electronics has owned the site since late 1994. While Bay West does not have any publicly recorded ownership stake in the 20-acre site, the development plans hint that a deal to acquire the property could be on the table.

The San Jose project is among several redevelopments planned for former Fry's locations, which permanently closed last year after more than four decades in the electronics retail business. The Silicon Valley-based company, which was known for designing its stores according to themes ranging from alien invasions to "Alice in Wonderland" and built its headquarters to resemble a Mayan temple, said it couldn't survive the economic woes brought about by the pandemic.

More than 30 Fry's retail locations closed across nine states, mostly concentrated along the West Coast.

Bay West had been in talks with Fry's to reposition the Brokaw Road property prior to the retailer going out of business. After more than a year of seeking suggestions and redevelopment opportunities, the local developer made its plans official by 2021 and formalized its timeline for the project, which is expected to be completed by about 2030.