110 townhomes proposed in North San Jose at existing office site

As the office market struggles to recover, project after project has been pivoting to housing. The latest proposal is coming from SummerHill Homes and would involve replacing a two-story office building with 110 townhomes on a 5.1-acre site at 90 East Tasman Drive. 

This is a great location in the middle of the tech world's "Golden Triangle." It's in front of a VTA Light Rail stop and is a few stations away from either Levi's Stadium to the west or Milpitas BART and The Great Mall to the east.

While townhomes in many ways would certainly be an improvement over the current 1980s era office buildings at the current site, it's still a far cry from what Santa Clara is doing off of Tasman just over 1 mile away. That site is also 5-acres, but instead of townhomes it features a 23-story apartment building with 509 apartment and 191 senior housing units in a secondary tower. That is literally seven times the density of the San Jose proposal (see below).

The land here is extremely valuable. It would make sense to move a bit beyond townhomes at this point in North San Jose, especially with such great access to existing transit networks. 

Source: The Mercury News, TheRegistry

Tamien Station broke ground

A 555-unit midrise project just broke ground in the Tamien neighborhood just south of Downtown San Jose. It's a partnership between the VTA, Core Companies, and Republic Urban Properties and will cost around $270 million to build across three phases.

Phase one is 135 affordable housing units with a 3,000 SQFT daycare. It'll have 20 studios, 44 one-bedroom, 37 two-bedroom, and 34 three-bedroom apartments.

One of the highlights of this project is it will have immediate access to a Caltrain, VTA Lightrail, and multiple VTA bus lines.

Source: SF Yimby

Project for 900 homes moves forward near Little Portugal and San Jose's next BART station

The city of San Jose just completed the environmental review for a mixed-use project close to Little Portugal at 1325 East Julian St. The project would have four 10-story buildings with 633 apartments, 127 reserved for affordable housing, an 11,500 SQFT of ground-floor retail. There would be a six-story building with 49 affordable homes and 2,500 SQFT of ground-floor retail. Lastly there is a six-story apartment building with 235 homes, all affordable housing plus 820 SQFT of ground-floor commercial space.

This is certainly a huge improvement over what is in the area now (see 2nd image below). However...

...this is a huge lost opportunity to build interesting buildings that tie into the Little Portugal neighborhood and BART station. This does not have to be expensive. Simple changing the color scheme and adding a little mosaic tile will add character and give San Jose a much needed dose of vibrancy.

You can find Portugese-influenced architecture interviewed all around the world. This is Senado Square in Macao (China):

Again, something is better than nothing but there are not many empty parcels left in San Jose. We'll be looking at these buildings for the next 50+ years, so we should make sure the design reflects the direction San Jose is headed as opposed to being another beige box.

Source: SVBJ

Affordable housing coming to Buena Vista neighborhood in Midtown San Jose

259 Meridian Avenue is the current site of a few 1-story commercial buildings built in 1958 that are tucked away behind W. San Carlos. This is the Buena Vista neighborhood or Midtown between Downtown San Jose, and Santana Row/Valley Fair (Uptown).

Developer Milestone Housing Group is proposing to build a 154-unit six-story project on this site. This developer specializes in affordable homes and teams with nonprofit organizations. The housing they build is typical for individuals and families that have a wide variety of specific needs, including veterans with disabilities, senior housing, and permanent housing for the unhoused.

This was just filed with the San Jose Planning Department, and there is no official ETA.

Source: The Merc

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

More homes to replace surface parking near Roosevelt Park

213 homes are being planned at the corner of North 17th Street and East St. John Street, right on the outskirts of Downtown San Jose in the Julian-St. James neighborhood. 113 of the units are affordable family-oriented apartments, 64 would be dedicated to seniors, and 36 will be for-sale townhomes offered at affordable prices.

The family apartments will have 8,300 SQFT of amenities and an open-space courtyard while the senior apartments would have 10,400 SQFT of amenity space and a courtyard of their own. The townhomes will have a paseo running through them.

The project includes an 80-year old building that served as IBM's first operations on the West Coast. The developers are looking to somehow incorporate that building into the project.

Source: The Merc

Affordable housing in Berryessa, San Jose

The VTA is planning to use an empty lot next to the Berryessa Transit Center (BART & bus terminal) to build 195 affordable apartments. Housing will only be available to those making 60% or less than the county's median income. For a family of four that would mean they would need to earn less than $100k a year. 46 of the apartments will be used to provide support for residents who have experienced homelessness.

The render looks pretty nice for affordable housing. Each resident will have access to bikes and scooters as well as get a free BART and VTA pass to encourage more use of public transit. Part of the first floor will be a child care facility, another surprising amenity for a project like this.

Measure A funds will be used to pay for the project as well three other projects specifically designated as affordable housing. VTA plans to build a total of 2,600 affordable homes over the next 20 years.

This specific project is expected to break ground in 2026 with completion slated for 2028.

Source: San Jose Spotlight

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

Affordable housing project proposed for Guitar Showcase site

A developer would like to relocate the Guitar Showcase store at 3090 S. Bascom Avenue, raze the building, and construct a six-story residential building in its place. The project would have 90 apartments and 100% of them would be classified as affordable housing. The plan is to have a mix of one, two, and three bedroom units ranging from 405 SQFT to 975 SQFT. 29 of the units would be reserved for formerly homeless making no more than 30% of our area's median income.

Also included in the project would be 2,200 SQFT of commercial space on the ground floor and 25 parking spaces.

If this project comes to fruition, Guitar Showcase won't be moving very far. There is an available space for them right next door.

Source: SVBJ

The San Jose metro is the most "equity-rich" in the county

Of all the metro areas in the US, San Jose has the highest percentage of "equity-rich" homes at 72%. Equity rich means your loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is heavily weighted towards value. For example, if you have a loan for $300,000 and the home is worth $1 million, there is $700,000 in equity there and that would be considered equity-rich.

More than 7 out of every 10 homes in San Jose now fall into this category. In comparison, the San Francisco metro came in second at 61%. California has the highest share of equity-rich homes of all states, and came in at 39%.

Even more impressive, eight of the top 10 equity-rich zip codes in the USA are in San Jose. In the top 100, 85 of the top zip codes are in the Bay Area.

Yes, this is a very expensive place to live... but for those lucky enough to own their own homes there is some reassurance that you can either tap equity as needed or move to a less expensive place and live like someone that won a small lottery.

Source: SVBJ

New homes and office space coming to Steven's Creek

Fortbay has just received approval for one of the first San Jose "signature projects" at 4300 Steven's Creek. This is just a few minutes west of Valley Fair and Santana Row and near the border of Cupertino.

The plan is to build 582 residential units, 233,000 SQFT of office space, and a multi-story parking structure. There will be some retail element, but it is not clear from the article how much or where in the project it will be. The new buildings will be between six and eight stories and will wrap around a new 1.4 acre promenade and park.

It's nice to see new mixed use projects being developed outside of Downtown San Jose. The one missing component here is access to public transit, but I have a feeling most of the residents will have a short commute to the Apple campus down the street. We really need to build some sort of mass transit from Downtown all the way to De Anza since this corridor is densifying rapidly.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose is the hottest housing market in the US

For the second year, Zillow has declared San Jose to be the hottest housing market in the country. High-salary tech jobs are continuing to drive prices and sales sky high. Currently there are 3.9 job openings for every 100 people in San Jose, giving us the highest rate of job openings of all large US metros. Combine that with the highest salaries in the US, and it is no surprise that our real estate market is still blazing hot.

There are some early signs of cooling. Population growth has slowed and inventory is creeping up. However, for now it's a really good time to be a home owner in San Jose based on Zillow's analysis.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose home prices rose three times faster than US average

If you feel like housing prices are getting out of control, that is because they are. The economy has been doing quite well and US home values have risen an average over 7.1% from May 2017 to May 2018. In the San Jose metro, home prices rose a staggering 20.4%. We topped the appreciation list for all large metros in the country. This is good news for current homeowners, but bad for anyone hoping to buy a home here in the near future. Higher prices also mean more turnover for residents, which negatively impacts community building.

The average mortgage is now 51.2% of our median family income--a shocking stat that shows how unsustainable these prices are without further increases in salaries, which are already the highest in the nation. On a positive note, rents have at least stabilized.

Source: SVBJ,

Guest Post - A Crisis Means Opportunity

Below is a thoughtful post by Leslye Corsiglia on affordable housing in Silicon Valley. This is one of the most significant issues San Jose currently faces and I have personally seen a lot of great San Joseans that have contributed to the local community leave town because they could no longer afford to live here. While there is no simple solution, there are several ideas to move the needle in the right direction below.

A Crisis Means Opportunity

Last month, the Mercury News published stories about a burned out house in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood that sold for more than $900,000 and a condemned house in Fremont that fetched $1.2 million. These stories are vivid reminders of the Bay Area’s housing crisis and exemplify the dilemma faced by our residents, where even families earning six figures have trouble finding a decent place to live.

A new study by the California Housing Partnership found that Bay Area residents need to earn more than four times the minimum wage or about $60 an hour to afford Bay Area rents.  And even that might not be enough. Last year, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development classified a family of four earning $105,000 as low income.

But in every crisis there is opportunity, and right now we have two options: (1) allow the housing crisis to fester, turning the Bay Area into a gated community, where only the wealthy can live, or (2) start laying the foundation for economically diverse communities through the development of affordable housing, so that all people have a chance for success.

Option one seems oddly un-American. Option two is closer to what the promise of America represents. So how do we get there?

First, we need a more regional approach to the housing crisis. Luckily, there is no shortage of ideas, and some are already hard at work on the problem. CASA—the Committee to House the Bay Area—is working on regional solutions that would increase residential production, preserve existing housing, and protect current residents facing displacement. CASA will complete its work later this year. Check it out: https://mtc.ca.gov/our-work/plans-projects/casa-committee-house-bay-area

We need our local communities to step up with solutions. Many are. San Jose has a plan to add 25,000 new homes, including 10,000 that are affordable, in the next five years. Mountain View just approved the North Bayshore Precise Plan, which includes 9,850 new homes. Palo Alto just approved a progressive Housing Work Plan to significantly increase housing production, and, of course, there is the County’s Measure A, which voters approved last year to create more than 5,000 new homes, a significant percentage for homeless families and individuals.

We need help from the state. Our Bay Area Legislative Caucus was instrumental in passing an historic 15-bill housing package last year, which included Senator Bob Wieckowski’s bill to increase accessory dwelling units (granny flats) and Senator Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 35, which is streamlining housing development in cities like Cupertino in exchange for making 50% of the units affordable. But more tools and more money must be forthcoming.

We need the assistance of the private sector. New start-up companies like RAD Urban and Factory OS in Vallejo are using modular construction techniques to reduce the cost of building safe, attractive homes for people of all income levels.  

And we need you. We now have an emerging consensus that the housing crisis is bad for the Bay Area and California, and we need to offer ways for residents to do something about it. This week’s Affordable Housing Week provides that opportunity. The week is designed to educate, inspire, and engage the public about the housing crisis and what we can do about it with 27 different activities. Check it out: bit.ly/svhousingweek2018.

To create opportunity from crisis, we must act locally, community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, person to person.

Leslye Corsiglia is executive director of Silicon Valley at Home.

Your eyes will melt when you see how much income is needed to buy a house in San Jose

The average annual income you need to buy a home in the United States is $55,390. That is already an insane amount for most of the globe. In New York City that figure doubles to $99,151. San Francisco more than triples the national average with a staggering $173,330. Unfortunately, San Jose takes the national crown in one of the few stats we don't want to dominate. Brace yourself... to buy a medium priced home in San Jose today--you should be making $216,181 each year. Oh, and that is assuming you have the capital saved up for a 20% down payment. Um, ouch!

Source: SiliconBeat

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

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 is the first metro in the country to break the million dollar mark for single-family homes

Ouch, the San Jose metro is officially the first metro in the United States where the average cost of a detached home is seven figures. The average cost of a come in our area (which includes all of Santa Clara County) is $1,085,000. This compares to $885,600 in the San Francisco Metro, $742,200 in Anaheim, and $742,000 in Honolulu.

The average cost of housing in the San Jose metro rose a whopping 10.7% last year. The San Francisco metro rose by 9.5%. Despite signs the housing market and economy are slowing down, home values are continuing to go up.

Hopefully we learned our lessen in 2008 and this won't get too out of hand. For those that don't understand what happened eight years ago, I highly recommend watching The Big Short (now on Netflix). Spoiler alert: one of the first people to identify the corruption and scandals happening in the mortgage market is from San Jose.

Source: SocketSite

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.

Micro-apartments coming to West San Carlos Street

Could tiny apartments be a way to lower housing prices and quickly increase the housing supply in San Jose? Shad Design is planning to build 81 micro units on just 0.4 acres at 1470 West San Carlos Street (currently a used car lot). This area is halfway between Downtown San Jose and Santana Row, most commonly referred to as Midtown.

The plans call for three levels of apartments sitting on top of 7,200 SQFT of retail. Each floor would have 27 apartments. The units would each be 573 SQFT split across two floors--379 SQFT on the main level, 162 SQFT on a loft, and each come with a 32 SQFT closet. While small by San Jose standards, that is much larger than most micro-unit projects which can be as minuscule as 200 SQFT if you can imagine that. Ceilings will be 15 feet tall in the living room.

Rent will cost about 30% less than a typical San Jose apartment, yet these units will have a full kitchen, bathroom, and even a washer and dryer. It is an interesting project and I'm sure there will be substantial demand from young workers if this gets built.

Source: SVBJ