Showing posts with label san jose development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label san jose development. Show all posts

Saturday, February 3, 2024

VTA abandons eminent domain plans that would have derailed a high-rise project

Given the likelihood of more delays and cost overruns, VTA wisely dropped plans to drop eminent domain proceedings for a prime site near the Downtown San Jose BART station. The land they were trying to forcefully acquire is between 17 and 31 East Santa Clara Street.

Proposed for this site is the Eterna Tower, a 26-story residential high-rise with 200 residences in a very central part of Downtown San Jose. Unfortunately this project is still at risk as the capital market landscape greatly changed since the tower was first proposed and delayed by the VTA's actions.

At this point, there is so much risk in the BART project that large parcels of prime land should not be held hostage for something that is at best 14 years away. There are plenty of options for subway entrances and exits throughout Santa Clara Street.

Source: The Mercury News




Thursday, December 21, 2023

11-story building coming to San Jose's "Downtown West"

Not every tower has to hit maximum height. This proposal at Delmas and San Fernando would occupy a small amount of space where a convenience store and taqueria currently operate out of a 2,305 SQFT single-story building. 

The proposal would have 80 residential units in an 11-story building and 1,355 SQFT of ground floor retail which the businesses at the current location would occupy after construction is complete. I'm not sure if this is tall enough to technically call a high-rise, but it does have a striking and unique design by Downtown San Jose standards.

At least 20% of the units would be affordable housing. The building would be an easy walk to Diridon and has a VTA Light Rail station across the street. It's also minutes away from the Adobe World Headquarters and proposed San Jose Google campus.

Source: SVBJ



Tuesday, December 19, 2023

RIP Apollo tower, site of proposed San Jose high-rise sold to VTA

The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has purchased two parcels of land that were meant to meant to become a 20-story, Las Vegas-style, 472-unit tower at the corner of Stockton Avenue and Santa Clara Street. The design was quite striking as you can see below.

The VTA is going to use this parcel for the first phase of California High Speed Rail, which might actually beat BART to Downtown San Jose. If the tower was built, the costs to complete Diridon would rise exponentially.

Hopefully this design could be reused on another Urban Catalyst project in Downtown San Jose.

Source: SVBJ



Monday, December 18, 2023

New details for University Station near Caltrain and SCU

A new development spanning 451-475 El Camino Real will add 406 units to our housing pool. The location is across the street from Santa Clara University and a five minute walk away from Caltrain and a future BART station. Like Valley Fair, it actually spans across both San Jose and Santa Clara.

The project will be a mix of apartment buildings and townhomes on 11 acres of land, specifically 298 apartments and 108 townhomes. 82 of the 406 units will be designated as affordable housing.

The four-story residential buildings will replace two-story offices and two parking structures. There will be no impact to the small retail center next to Caltrain, the hotel, nor the South Bay Historical Railroad Society building.

Currently there is no ETA, but the latest project drawings are below.

Source: SF YIMBY




Saturday, December 9, 2023

Santa Clara approves plan to rebuild its former Downtown

63 years ago, Santa Clara had a Downtown area that was nearly completely destroyed. Eight blocks by Santa Clara University were leveled to make way for Franklin Mall and high-density housing that never materialized.

Now, the city of Santa Clara has approved a new plan that would restore Santa Clara's original street grid while creating three new public spaces and a retail shopping experience. The area was originally zoned to support 129,300 SQFT of new commercial space and 396 more residential units than it has today. The new plan would allow for 1,071 units and a whipping 729,620 SQFT of commercial space. Buildings would still be capped at seven stories.

If you look at the map below, the new plan would involve tearing down several existing buildings, including Park Central Apartments (which are quite old and in need of renovation anyway). I would not expect a brand new Downtown to materialize any time soon, the city is just setting the vision and up-zoning the area to encourage and support developers to create a future Downtown where the old one once existed. You can see see remnants and information related to the original Downtown in Franklin Mall.

Source: SVBJ



Thursday, December 7, 2023

San Jose approves 913 apartments east of Downtown

San Jose has given the green light for a major housing project near Little Portugal and Roosevelt Park. The 913 apartment development will be one of the anchors of the Five Wounds Urban Village plan, centered around a future BART station and a historic 109-year-old church.

There will be a total of six buildings, and 407 of the units will be priced as below market-rate. Most of those "affordable" units will be priced for people earning up to 80% of the median income, which is $96,000 for a single person and $137,000 for a household of four.

235 of the apartment will be built on 1.5 acres at 1298 Tripp Avenue and will be called Residencias Arianna. It will replace 40 existing apartments and two single-family homes with a single six-story building.

The other five buildings will be on 3.3 acres of land at 1325 E. Julian St. Three buildings will rise to be 10 stories tall and the fourth will be six stories. This is respectable density for this neighborhood.

The project also includes 15,000 SQFT of commercial space on the ground floors and 267 parking spaces shared among all of the apartments. That's right, not everyone will get a space. However with multiple bus lines and eventually BART servicing the area, it might be one of those few neighborhoods in San Jose where you can get around without a car.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for 2024 and it will take around three years to complete.

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Luxurious 21-story residential high-rise proposed for Tasman with a surprise amenity on top

Tasman East by Levi's Stadium has been on a roll lately. Santa Clara's two tallest buildings are almost complete and already another high-rise is being proposed for the area right across the street from them.

Tasman East, Parcel 11 is a 21-story apartment complex that would have 198 homes, 310 automotive parking spaces, 110 spots for bike parking, and easy access to VTA Light Rail and the numerous amenities coming to the Levi's Stadium area this decade. The building is 218 feet tall with 3,000 SQFT of retail on the ground floor

There will be two amenity areas. On the 6th floor podium there will be an outdoor fitness space, yoga patio, and private patios. The second one will have something special. 

I was really hoping that San Jose would have the first swimming pool on top of a high-rise in the Bay Area (I'm looking at you Tribute Hotel next to the Four Points Downtown). However, if this moves forward it will not even be the first, but the second--in Santa Clara. The proposal has an epic penthouse amenity deck with a full pool, hot tub/spa, cabanas, and outdoor dining. Given our amazing South Bay weather and high cost of living, this is one luxury we should see a lot more of in proposed residential projects to help justify those big bucks. If you're wondering where the first high-rise pool is, it will be at the Tasman Senior Housing tower across the street.

As for the apartments themselves, there will be 28 studios, 87 one-bedrooms, 61 two-bedrooms, 15 three-bedrooms, and seven penthouse units. The average size of the units will be close to 1,000 SQFT.

Long-term, there could be up to 11 projects like this one with around 4,500 apartments total. This is just the beginning and the skyline is already surprisingly different around Tasman than it was just a few years ago.

Source: SF YIMBY









Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Eight-story apartment building proposed near future San Jose Google campus

A restaurant called Con Sabor a Mexico on 500 West San Carlos Street might become the site of an eight-story apartment building. The address is significant since it's in the "Downtown West" neighborhood that Google eventually wants to turn into an urban campus in the Downtown San Jose.

The proposed building would have 90 apartments across eight floors, and 2,670 SQFT of ground-floor retail. Based on the initial render it looks like it will include some amount of parking. I don't quite understand the grid on one side of the building. Those could be some form of child-safe balconies or interior hallways that allow airflow to pass through.

Even without factoring for the Google campus, the location is a few blocks away from Diridon station and a few blocks away from Discovery Meadow and the Guadalupe River trail. The site would be extremely convenient for Adobe employees as well.

So far the development plans are preliminary and there is no formal ETA.

Source: The Mercury News



Monday, November 13, 2023

Owners of the San Jose Flea Market cutting office components entirely and dramatically downsizing housing plans

The original plan for the San Jose Flea Market next to San Jose's only existing BART station was for 3,450 residential units (yellow in image below), 3,400,000 SQFT of commercial (teal), a 5-acre urban market (red) and a 1.4 acre public park and open space (green areas). Grey is parking.

Sadly, the owners have changed direction and have completely eliminated office space from the project. The new plan will only have 940 homes and 45,500 SQFT of ground-floor retail space.

They are taking advantage of a loophole in the builder's remedy--which streamlines approval for certain residential projects designed to encourage more housing and development--to actually reduce the size of the project. It's a classic example of good-intentioned law (like rent control) causing the exact opposite effect. If it were not a builder's remedy, San Jose could more easily reject the project and require higher density.

San Jose needs to build about 60,000 housing units over the next eight years to keep up with demand and State requirement. By taking this many homes off the table, it will be a huge step back.

Given the proximity to some of the largest tech companies in the world and immediate access to BART, this site easily could have become another Santana Row over the next decade. Plus its a destination easy to get to from anywhere in the Bay Area. Now, with the scaled back plans it will greatly undermine this opportunity. It may not have the critical mass necessary to pull anyone into San Jose as a destination and will barely make a dent on our housing requirements.

If a dense redevelopment of the San Jose Flea Market site is truly off the table, the next best step would be to quadruple down in Downtown San Jose to hit our target. The infrastructure and space for dense development is already there. Eliminate as many fees and bureaucratic steps as possible for large-scale residential development and let's get that housing built!

Source: SVBJ, SVBJ(2)




Sunday, September 24, 2023

Updated design for 1881 West San Carlos in Midtown San Jose

1881 West San Carlos is a seven-story mixed-use project that replaces four 1-2 story buildings on a 1.23-acre lot. It's a prominent location facing San Carlos which is the core street that connects Downtown San Jose to Santana Row/Valley Fair.

The building will have 61 condominiums, 137 assisted-living senior apartments, and 109 memory-care senior apartments. Each floor has a nurse's station and activity room. For the condominiums, there will be a studio, 16 one-bedrooms, and 44 two-bedroom units. To support the new units, there is parking for 113 cars and 75 bicycles.

The ground floor has 6,000 SQFT of retail spread across four units. It is less than what will be torn down to build the project, but at least they are keeping retail as a component of the project. 

I really like the tapered design allowing for balconies in the rear of the building away from San Carlos Street. While it cuts into the possible square footage for the project, it looks a lot nicer and adds a practical amenity for residents. Midtown is such a key corridor that I wish they pushed the height limits a bit more, or at least used the roof of the building as amenity space. 

This is one of the few areas of San Jose that can support urban development without encroaching on suburban single-family areas. It also has easy access to transit with a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) station a 4 minute walk away and a normal bus station a block away. Either of those bus stops go to Santa Row/Valley Fair or Downtown San Jose (connecting with Light Rail at the Convention Center). 

This is a great improvement for the area and I'm hoping future projects will continue to raise the bar and density for the Midtown area.

Source: SF YIMBY








Thursday, September 7, 2023

Reimagining of Oakridge Mall in South San Jose as suburban village with two high-rises

There has been a lot of discussion around Santana Row on X recently, but other concepts similar to it have been in the works for a long time in the San Jose metro.

The architect behind a new apartment project (380 N. 1st Street, more on that tomorrow) also created an interesting concept for Westfield. Imagine what Oakridge mall's gigantic parking lot could be turned into. The renders below look very similar to a slightly small Santana Row that is directly attached to the mall.

The concept has two high-rises and several mid-rise buildings with 1,500 apartments, a hotel, 250,000 SQFT of office space, 25,000 SQFT of new retail space. Macy's would be turned into an industrial innovation center with maker spaces for artists.

It would be interesting to see Oakridge as a mixed-use destination. This would certainly give South San Jose a stronger sense of place as no high-rise projects exist there today. There are a few mixed-use proposals such as this one, but nothing of this scale.

Right now it is just a concept, but given Valley Fair's immense success in their last expansion, perhaps this is something that could see the light of day.

Source: Silicon Valley Joe from Skyscraper City







Tuesday, August 24, 2021

SoFA will never be the same if these 6 towers get built

Feast your eyes on two projects consisting of three towers each in Downtown San Jose's artsy SoFA district. I love how these proposals continue to get more and more impressive with natural elements and rooftop amenities.

The first five renders below are a joint residential venture between Urban Community and Terrascape Ventures with 386 units. Two towers would be around 420 S. 2nd Street and clock in at 12 and 22 stories plus 8,000 SQFT of retail in a public plaza between the buildings. This is where the Dai-Thanh Supermarket and Dakao Sandwich shop currently stand. A third 20-story would rise on 420 S. 3rd St. and replace an old apartment complex. At least two towers would have an outdoor rooftop deck and lounge with trees and plants. The entire project would be built using mass timber and cross-laminated timber and operate with net-zero carbon emissions.

The next five renders are Westbank's "The Orchard" mixed-use project at the very entrance of SoFA from San Salvador Street. The towers looks great, but the ground-floor retail looks phenomenal! Currently, most of this proposal covers what today is a giant outdoor parking lot.

If just one of these projects moves forward, it will transform the area. If both make it, it'll be a revelation. It would triple the amount of foot traffic on most days and likely turn SoFA into an even more thriving area than San Pedro Square or the Historic District.

Sources: SVBJ, Aphelion2100 from the SJ Development Forum












Monday, December 21, 2020

SJDA Year in Review Meeting 2020

This year's SJDA year in review presentation was especially interesting given the sheer insanity of 2020.

Scott Knies--as always--provides a phenomenal summary of everything significant that happened in Downtown San Jose this past year starting around the 6:30 mark in the video. I highly recommend watching his entire presentation. It feels like a decade of history crammed into a single year.

For the development nerds out there, Downtown has never had as many proposed developments as today. That is pretty evident around the 20 minute mark when Scott quickly does through the largest projects on the table today in San Jose. Other topics include COVID impacts, Groundworks, the impressive public arts projects such as Downtown Doors and stunning new murals, and transportation.

Around 35:40, the Golden Nail Award for outstanding design and architecture was presented to the builder and architect of Modera on San Pedro Square. If you haven't seen the new alley next to Modera, it's worth stopping by on your next visit to the San Pedro area. It's impressive and likely to become one of Downtown's hotspots in the future. Two new restaurants and an urgent care facility will also be coming to this building in 2021. The press release for the Golden Nail Award is below.

Enjoy the full presentation over here.



Alley on San Pedro Square earns Golden Nail Award for outstanding design and architecture


New public space creates a new destination within an already successful downtown San Jose destination

 

SAN JOSE –  The new Alley on San Pedro Square today was recognized for its outstanding design and placemaking.  The Downtown Design Committee of the San Jose Downtown Association honored the builder and architect of the mid-rise Modera on San Pedro Square project with the Golden Nail Element of Distinction Award.

 

The S-shaped alley creates a new and inviting connection between San Pedro Street and Almaden Avenue in the heart of San Pedro Square, one of the most popular destinations in downtown San Jose.  On one side of the alley is a new residential apartment building with new retail spaces and on the other are several businesses such as Five Points and The Brit set in historic buildings that now offer their customers reinvented and expanded patios facing the alley.

 

The committee was impressed by the alley’s walkability, connectivity and the way it promotes socialization, said Brian Corbett, chair of the Downtown Design Committee. 

 

"The new link adds to the already-successful San Pedro Square district,” Corbett said.  “The former hidden gem Tabard Theatre becomes the focal point on the alley.”

 

“By drawing in people and spurring interaction, this is exactly the kind of design we need in San Jose.  It is now a truly unique urban experience,” he said.

 

“We are pleased to bring additional housing to downtown," said Don Peterson of Mill Creek and Modera San Pedro Square.  “We had hoped that this signature element of our project would enliven and enrich an already focal point of San Jose."

 

Rob Steinberg, chairman of Steinberg-Hart, accepted the award on behalf of his architecture firm.

 

“I’m pleased with how the alley turned out, including  the inviting entry on South Almaden with column detail supporting the overhang,” Steinberg said, adding his appreciation for the project’s scale and how lower and higher elements of the residential building step back from the alley.

 

“The texture, palette colors, accents of the tile, the railing pattern and the variety of materials really add a richness to what I believe will be a great urban space in downtown San Jose.

 

“The only thing missing is the people, and they are coming,” Steinberg added.  “I know they will.”

 

Modera has already attracted two new restaurants and an urgent care facility into retail space along its side of the alley.  

 

“That is proof that great places attract people and new investment,” Corbett said.

 

Each year for more than two decades, the Design Review Committee has rewarded projects that contribute excellence and vibrancy to downtown’s built environment with the Golden Nail.




Monday, September 28, 2020

Cambrian Park Plaza Proposal

A once popular West San Jose shopping center is slated to be fully redeveloped into a mixed-use urban village. Cambrian Park Plaza is slated to have 58,000 SQFT of retail, a six-story apartment building with 305 units, 25 townhomes, 48 single family homes, a four-story assisted living facility, 229 hotel rooms and generous amounts of park space with include a children's playground, dog park, and community garden.

Weingarten Realty--the developer--was able to cram all of this into 18 acres by placing almost all of the 1,469 parking spaces underground.

The retail spaces are going to be between 1,080 and 5,000 SQFT, which will make it difficult for larger retailers such as BevMo to move back in but will be a convenient size for restaurants and small shops.

Cabrian Park Plaza drawings look pretty darn good so far and remind me a bit of Evergreen Village Square. This is envisioned as a signature project and effectively a downtown area for the Cambrian district. 

There is no ETA yet, but hopefully this moves into demo and construction by the end of 2021.

Source: San Jose Inside, SVBJ