237 new apartments proposed for San Jose's Buena Vista neighborhood

Buena Vista is a midtown neighborhood that has not gotten much development love over the years. However, that might change with a proposed midrise on 1.3-acres encompassing an abandoned car rental business with three vacant commercial buildings and eight older homes.

The project backed by Urban Villas LLC would have 237 apartments (8 affordable), 17,000 SQFT of retail space on the ground floor, and 199 parking spaces. It would be designated as an urban village and include a 30-foot-wide paseo connecting it to another project with up to 256 apartments to the east.

It still has to go through all the proper city approvals and there is no ETA at this time.

Source: San Jose Spotlight

Urban Catalyst replacing Garden City Casino with a large mixed-use project

The former Garden City Casino and Harry's Hofbrau area in West San Jose is going to get a significant overhaul. Urban Catalyst would like to build a mixed-use project combining office space, residential, a senior living complex, and a hotel.

Each of these four elements would have it's own dedicated building. Along Saratoga you'll find the office building and hotel. The offices would clock in around 300,000 SQFT across nine stories. The hotel would have 175 rooms, with suitability for both for short and long-term accommodations (I think this will mean two hotel brands sharing the same back-of-house resources and staff). One really neat feature is a rooftop deck above the hotel lobby (or lobbies) with the swimming pool and amenity space.

The residential building will house 425-450 apartments across eight stories. A separate senior living and memory care facility will have 165 units.

This seems like quite a nice proposal. The only element missing is retail--it would be great to see some restaurants and stores on the ground floor of all the buildings. However, Santana Row and Valley Fair are less than a mile away so this is not as critical for this particular area.

Source: SVBJ

Urban Catalyst proposes a residential mid-rise by Diridon

Urban Catalyst does not seem to be slowing down one bit when it comes to new development proposals. Their latest endeavor is Madera @ Downtown West, a 157-unit apartment complex near where Google plans to build their San Jose megacampus of up to 8 million SQFT.

Madera will have 49 studios, 14 one-bedroom, 14 two-bedroom, 26 three-bedroom, and 54 four-bedroom apartments. I'm happy to see a large number of studios and 3-4 bedroom units as theses are rare products in the San Jose apartment and condo markets. In fact, I'm quite shocked at there being 54 four-bedroom apartments as there are typically only a couple of these in each Downtown San Jose high-rise building and they are extremely expensive penthouses. This building might actually be family-friendly.

While it is only eight-stories, it is located in a medium density area that still has a large number of single family homes. This will certainly be an upgrade for the block, especially with ground-floor retail. The project is bound by 486-498 W. San Carlos St. and 332-338 Josefa St and it will replace a few small commercial buildings and a vacant house.

Construction could start as early as July 2021 and take two years to complete.

Source: SVBJ

New luxury apartment project coming to Santana Row area

Greystar Real Estate Partners is going to transform an existing 216 unit apartment building into a a 636 unit luxury apartment community called The Reserve. The project is at 881 S. Winchester Boulevard, very close to Santana Row.

The apartments will mostly be one and two-bedroom loft-style units in four to five-story buildings with two levels of underground parking. Amenities include a pool, rooftop lounge, a fitness center, and 8,000 SQFT of retail.

The Reserve should be ready for leasing in 2020.

Source: SVBJ (subscription required)

Saturday Status: Two San Jose neighborhoods made the US Top 20 in post-recession apartment growth

RentCafe has put together a list of the fastest growing apartment markets in the country post-recession. Not one, but two San Jose neighborhoods made the list. North San Jose took 3rd place with a staggering 6,814 new apartments across 11 buildings, a 74% increase. Downtown San Jose was #20 on the list with 2,663 apartments across 14 buildings.

New York City dominated the top 50, which is to be expected given they have a population of 8 million people. San Francisco neighborhoods did not start showing up until #31. To see the full list, head over to the link below.

Source: RentCafe Blog

Saturday Stats: "Wealthy" San Jose renters grew by 32% in 2015

We ranked 7th in the nation when it comes to highest growth rate for "wealthy" renters. I put wealthy in quotes because the study is using $150,000/year of household income as the definition of wealthy. If you have a family in San Jose and your income is at that level between two working adults, you probably don't consider yourself wealthy.

In any case, San Jose now has 21,000 high-income renters (15% of the total renter population in San Jose). This number is increasing much faster than high-income homeowners. I don't think that is a good thing since it likely means fewer people can afford to purchase a home in the area. To read the full report, check out the source link below.

Source: RentCafe Blog

San Jose rents are going back up

Just when it looked like the real estate market was simmering down, San Jose rents have jumped up again. In fact, for November rents are up percentage-wise more than anywhere else in the county for one-bedroom units. The average rental price for these is now $2,591/month, which is a 13% increase over the previous month.

The reason for the surge is not clear, but most experts believe we are indeed at the top of the market and expect some decline going forward. It might be a good time to hold off on signing a long-term rental agreement.

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: San Jose rents are stabilizing

This will be good news for a lot of folks. San Jose is one of the largest cities where rent growth has slowed down. The rate of increase has only been 0.6% in the last year (Sep 2015 - Sep 2016). Given that we have some of the highest rents in the US, hitting the brakes may not be a bad thing. The major downside is that this will likely delay some major development projects in San Jose.

Source: RENTCafe Blog

ROEM builds 200 new affordable homes at 295-acre Hitachi master-planned community in San Jose

It is not easy to find affordable housing in San Jose. The good news is ROAM is just wrapping up 200 new affordable homes in South San Jose. The $46 million project is called Charlotte Park Apartments. The homes include several amenities including solar power, access to an outdoor BBQ, children's play area, a lounge, and a community kitchen/entertainment area. The bad news is that the project is already 100% leased. If you are in the market and meet the income requirements, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get on the wait list.

Charlotte Park is part of a much larger planned development that includes market-rate apartments, condos, townhomes, and a 10-acre park. For more info on Charlotte Park, have a look at the press release below.

$46 Million Charlotte Park Apartments’ 200 Affordable Multi-Family Residential Units Are 100% Leased and Near Completion

SAN JOSE, Calif. ― With the near completion of 200 new, affordable housing homes, the $46 million Charlotte Park Apartments in San Jose, Calif., is a great example of ROEM’s expertise in building a high quality affordable residential rental community located within a market-rate development. In this case, ROEM Corp. satisfied most of the affordable housing requirement of the Hitachi master-planned community, with ROEM Builders, Inc., acting as both general contractor and construction manager.

“While inclusionary housing policies provide a major source of funding for affordable housing, they can significantly reduce a developer’s return and create long-term obligations,” said Alex Sanchez, Executive Vice President of ROEM Corporation. “Our market-rate developer partners recognize the benefits of having ROEM act as their third-party general contractor. We assume their affordable housing obligations and pay the in-lieu fees while designing and building high-quality affordable housing that seamlessly blends with their market-rate housing. About 430 of our more than 3,000 new affordable housing units completed since 2000 were built by ROEM for a market-rate developer.”

Located on the former Hitachi Global Storage Technologies campus, Charlotte Park is part of a 295-acre master-planned community that will include condominiums, apartments, attached townhomes, many pocket parks, and a large 10-acre park with a baseball field. Charlotte Park is situated near the intersection of Cottle Road and Highway 85, and within walking distance from the Blossom Hill Caltrain station and the Cottle and Santa Teresa light rail stations. This $46 million development with the construction and permanent financing provided by Citi is affordable to families that make 60 percent or less of the Santa Clara County Area Median Income and provides an amenity-rich residential experience.

“Charlotte Park provides a safe haven to those who are being squeezed out of quality housing in Silicon Valley,” said Jay Abeywardena, Director at Citi. “We are excited to help support this initiative and believe this project will have a meaningful impact on the community.”

Charlotte Park Apartments gained an efficiency of management thanks to two other ROEM developments – Oak Grove Apartments and LEX Apartments – being constructed simultaneously within about a half-mile radius. Although these are separate projects managed by separate teams, ROEM was able to share resources from time to time because of their close proximity.

“With Alliant’s investment of nearly $15 million, Charlotte Park Apartments will provide an additional 200 units of much needed safe and affordable housing to the San Jose Area,” said Brian Goldberg of Alliant Capital, Ltd. “We are proud to be a partner in the development of this property and excited for the residents who will benefit from it for years to come.”

With ROEM’s emphasis on sustainability, Charlotte Park will be pursuing USGBC LEED Gold certification. Because both solar thermal heating and solar photovoltaic power sources are being installed, Charlotte Park has the potential to save up to 85% on utility bills when compared to electric water heating. Per LEED standards, all apartments have high-efficiency flush toilets and faucets as well as “Evolve Roadrunner” showerheads that are thermostatically controlled. In addition, Charlotte Park integrates efficient landscape design by using native species and zero turf on a lot designed to capture and treat all stormwater.

The amenity-rich, four-story apartment building (with 230-parking space garage) includes a courtyard with outdoor barbecue, dining area, tot lot and lounge area; community room with media alcove, kitchen and entertainment area; storage area; homework and computer room; and laundry facilities. Apartments will be equipped with Energy Star refrigerators and dishwashers, blinds, carpet, coat closets, and electrical four-burner stove/ovens.

With completion slated by the end of June, Charlotte Park is already fully leased.

About ROEM Corporation
ROEM Development Corporation, ROEM Builders, Inc., and their affiliated entities are a full-service development and construction organization that has specialized in the acquisition, planning, financing, new construction, renovation and asset management of market-rate and affordable housing throughout California for more than 30 years. Ranked in Affordable Housing Finance magazine’s Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2015 list and a registered member of USGBC and Build It Green, ROEM is dedicated to creating wholesome communities that are not only sustainable but also designed smarter to ensure that residents are healthier, happier and safer. ROEM has completed more than 3,000 affordable housing units with more than 1,000 units currently under construction. For more information, visit www.ROEMcorp.com.

The 9 largest rental developments completed last year in San Jose

San Jose's development efforts are focused more on jobs than housing these days, but lets not forget how much housing is still built in San Jose each year. In 2015, the 9 largest rental projects in our city added 2,317 new apartments to San Jose. To see which projects made the list and take a peek inside each of these developments, head to this blog post.

Source: RENTCafe

Huge development project proposed at former Garden City Casino site in West San Jose

When Garden City Casino moved their operations to M8trix, it left a huge land redevelopment opportunity behind. Now two developers are planning to build a mixed-use center on the 15-acre lot. The project would have around 300,000 SQFT of office, 870 apartment units, 15,000 SQFT of retail, and a 1.5-acre park. It would be the largest project built in West San Jose in a very long time.

Since San Jose has such a large imbalance of housing and jobs, I'm glad it sounds like a balanced proposal where the office side of the equation is not an afterthought. It would be nice to have a bit more retail included, especially since the project fronts Saratoga Avenue.

One unfortunate casualty would be Harry's Hofbrau, which has become a craft beer hotspot in recent years. The restaurant has been there for 36 years. At least they would look to either relocate in the neighborhood or use some of that new retail space after the project is complete.

It should take less than a year for project approvals to go through and construction is expected shortly thereafter.

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: San Jose has #4 Highest 1BD Rents in the US

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news. At $2,230 per month, San Jose had the 4th highest rent in the nation for one bedroom apartments in August. The positive way to spin this is that we did not have the #1 highest rent in the nation. San Francisco took that prize with a median rent of $3,500 a month. They were followed by New York with $3,100/mo and Boston at $2,250/mo. I have a feeling that some of the fancy new apartments Downtown will be driving this metric up over the next couple years.

Oh, and if we look at % change in rent this year for one-bedroom apartments, San Jose comes in at #5 in the nation with a 14.9% increase. Oakland was at the top of that list with 20% and San Francisco was 8th at 12.9%.

Source: Zumper, hat tip to Barclay Livker

% Changes This Year

1. Oakland, CA – $1,980 (+20%)
2. Austin, TX – $1,170 (+17%)
3. Kansas City, MO – $770 (+16.7%)
4. Sacramento, CA – $900 (+15.4%)
5. San Jose, CA – $2,230 (+14.9%)
6. Atlanta, GA – $1,250 (+13.6%)
7. Dallas, TX – $1,190 (+13.3%)
8. San Francisco, CA – $3,500 (+12.9%)
9. Chicago, IL – $1,920 (+11.6%)

Saturday Stats: Rents Are Still Sky-High in San Jose

While there was some talk last year about rents starting to stabilize, the numbers in Zillow's latest studies show otherwise. In fact, there was a painful 13.4% increase in rents year-over-year from January 2014 to January 2015. Here are some other tidbits regarding the San Jose rental market:

• In San Jose, the median rent is $3,179 and rent is expected to increase 11.79 percent annually. 
• San Jose renters pay 39.4 percent of their income on rent each month, assuming the median San Jose income. 
• San Jose permitted just 294 new units for every 1,000 new residents from 2012 to 2013, according to Zillow.
• The Breakeven Horizon shows renters should consider buying in San Jose if they plan to live there for 2.7 or more years. 

For more info, head over to the Zillow article entitled: The Rent is Still Too Damn High -- And Getting Higher

Construction Starting on LINQ at Berryessa

The first market-rate apartments near the Berryessa BART station are about to break ground! Called LINQ at Berryessa, the project will have 230-units and is sitting on land that used to be zoned as industrial. Two affordable projects have already been built in the area and another 140-unit market-rate project is going to be built a kitty corner from LINQ.

In addition to being a short walk away from BART, LINQ will also have 12,000 SQFT of retail space which will likely be used for restaurants. For more info, hit the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

Tallest North San Jose Apartment Project Ever Moves Forward

After eight years of stalls and delays, the Century Center Towers project is getting a new push. Barry Swenson Builder is now partnering with Essex Property Trust to get two 12-story residential towers built at 1733 N. 1st St. The location is near the old Sony campus and Casino M8trix, and has convenient access to both light rail and Highway 101.

Century Center Towers will have 376 apartment units and will cost $170 million to build (including land costs). There were no special incentives or fee reductions here, and the land is already being prepped for construction.

This is the first San Jose residential high-rise building to be built outside of Downtown San Jose. I don't think it will be the last. This is a strong sign of increasing density in San Jose, and a new push to build in transit corridors. Hopefully more corporations (like Samsung) will employ this model as well as opposed to your traditional sprawled out office campuses.

Source: SVBJ

Another Apartment Project Proposed for Midtown

Fairfield Residential is proposing yet another dense project for midtown over at 800 W. San Carlos where the Cheim Lumber Yard used to be. Unfortunately there has not been much movement on previous projects such as the Ohlone (with 800 units). This new proposal is still in the very early stages, but they are shooting for 315 apartment units. You can't make out too much from black and white drawing below, but it does look like the design will be more eye catching than many of the apartment projects that have been recently built. It kind of reminds me of The Pierce which will go up in Downtown's SoFA District.

The plans also include a respectable and appreciated 23,500 SQFT of retail/restaurant/office space on the ground floors oriented along West San Carlos. Lightrail will also be nearby, providing plenty of transit options thanks to a quick connection to Diridon. I really hope to see this come to fruition soon instead of linger like some of the other midtown projects.

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: #1 Apartment Boom Town

SpareFoot ranked the top apartment boom towns in the US, and San Jose took the pole position on the list with San Francisco coming in 8th. The analysis looked at the total apartments per person, population growth, the percentage of people spending more than 35% of their income on rent (lower numbers are better), per-capita personal income growth, per-capita GDP growth, and growth in per-capita construction permits for new apartments. The article is an interesting read (especially on how Detroit made the list) and you can access it here.

The Way to San Jose
Here is SpareFoot’s ranking of America’s Top 15 Apartment Boom Towns, in descending order.

1. San Jose, CA
2. Austin, TX
3. Houston, TX
4. Grand Rapids, MI
5. Nashville, TN
6. Dayton, OH
7. Portland, OR
8. San Francisco, CA
9. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
10. Oklahoma City, OK
11. Seattle, WA
12. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
13. San Antonio, TX
14. Des Moines, IA
15. Detroit, MI

San Jose’s continued job growth, along with its shortage of affordable entry-level homes, encourages younger workers to look for apartments, said Matthew Mahood, president and CEO of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“The apartment housing market has responded to this increased demand and has built and will continue to build new projects. In fact, there are two high-rise projects being built simultaneously in downtown San Jose that will provide for nearly 700 for-rent units in the next two years,” Mahood said.

Source: The SpareFoot Blog

Saturday Stats: San Jose Metro Ranked as #2 Top Performing Rental Market in the Country

We all know how expensive it already is to live in Silicon Valley today, but it looks like rents are continuing to climb. In 2013, the national average for apartment rent rose 5.1% to $1,093 per month. The list of metros across the country where rents appreciated the most was entirely dominated by the Bay Area. In fact, the region took the top 3 spots in the list, with San Jose coming in second:

• Santa Rosa Metro: 12.2% growth (average rent of $1,438)
• San Jose Metro: 10.1% growth (average rent of $2,153)
• San Francisco Metro: 9.8% growth (average rent of $2,044)

With the local economy and job market continuing to heat up and the demand for housing outpacing supply, we may see similar rent increases for 2014.

Source: SVBJ

Student Apartment Project Groundbreaking in June

While not as impressive as Centerra or One South, Symphony Development is planning a dense infill project targeting SJSU students at 51 N. Sixth Street. The site is a parking lot for the First United Methodist Church right behind the 12-story Art Deco Vintage Tower. The building will consist of 119 market-rate apartments spread across seven stories on a one-acre lot (the first two floors will be parking). The total price tag will be around $40 million.

I don't believe this project has a retail component, but the sketch below does look like it has a couple sections that would make ideal retail spots. They could simply be communal areas. There is some retail right in front of this building in the Vintage Tower, as well as tons of places to eat within a few blocks such as Ike's, ISO: Beers, Cafe Pomegranate, 4th Street Pizza, Punjab Cafe, and popular SJSU hangout spot SmokeEaters. There will also be a BRT station within a block or two. I think this will be a great addition to the neighborhood!

Source: SVBJ

More San Jose Luxury Apartments Break Ground

Below is a rendering of "Ascent," Shea Properties' latest apartment project. We are talking 650 units in South San Jose (former Hitachi campus) with an estimated completion of Spring 2015. The total project cost is going to be $200 million, making it quite an expensive development when looking at the unit count ($307k per unit). There will be one, two, and three-bedroom units and luxurious amenities such as saltwater pools, a yoga courtyard, and a community pizza oven.

Looks like nice project, I just wish there was an office component to it as well. We really need more jobs in South San Jose and more housing in North San Jose.

Source: SVBJ