Ghosts of Muji, the Cinequest VIP Lounge and Pic-a-Dilly Fine Food are watching over the jackhammers.

When I hear construction noise inside an abandoned Japanese retailer that only existed because a hotel was moved 186 feet down the street so that a newer hotel could expand in its place, an expansion that later also failed and was then saved by a university to house students, I can only be in San Jose.

The southwest corner of First Street and what’s now called Paseo de San Antonio, the ground-level corner of the former Fairmont Annex, has been vacant for years, ever since Muji shut its doors.

Muji originally opened in 2013, to major fanfare. It seemed like every developer and real estate broker in San Jose was there. Multiple news cameras arrived for the occasion. After many years of do

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