Site development permits have been filed for a fully affordable apartment complex at 860 West San Carlos Street in San Jose, Santa Clara County. The project is looking to add nearly three hundred units to a seven-story complex just a few blocks away from Diridon Station. Swenson is listed as the project developer and design architect.
860 West San Carlos Street facade elevation, illustration by Swenson
860 West San Carlos Street vertical cross-section, illustration by Swenson
The 79-foot-tall structure will yield approximately 425,700 square feet, including 272 apartments and a 242-car garage. Unit sizes will vary with 107 one-bedrooms, 96 two-bedrooms, and 69 three-bedrooms. Additional space will be included for storing 76 bicycles. Construction will feature five wood floors above a two-story concrete podium. Residential amenities will be centralized around the third-floor podium-top courtyards, along with a fitness center, computer room, multipurpose room, and bicycle storage.
Previously, Swenson and Republic Urban Properties filed plans in 2022 for a 12-story apartment complex with 263 units, designed by Steinberg Hart. Updated illustrations revealed in 2024 show a 13-story affordable infill with 272 units. The latest illustrations show a decline in aesthetic quality, with the removal of inset balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows.
860 West San Carlos Street corner view, rendering by Swenson
860 West San Carlos Street ground-level floor plan, illustration by Swenson
While the provided drawings offer only a limited glimpse of the future design, the elevations indicate a value-engineered facade clad in painted cement plaster, fiber-cement siding, and thin brick veneer. HMH will be overseeing the civil engineering and landscape architecture.
860 West San Carlos is part of a joint venture with Republic Urban Properties and Swenson. The property is the third and final phase of a residential development off West San Carlos Street between Sunol Street and Swenson Drive. Crews broke ground in 2016 on phase one, or the 268-unit Silver at Ohlone, and phase two is an eight-story complex with 269 units named Patina@Midtown.
Silver at Ohlone, Patina at Midtown, and 860 West San Carlos Street from left to right, image via Google Street View outlined by YIMBY
The 2.2-acre property is located along West San Carlos Street between Sunol Street and Swenson Drive. The site is across from several other developments YIMBY has covered in recent years, including Mariposa Place and Madrone Place. Future residents will be less than 20 minutes from Diridon Station on foot or 7 minutes by bicycle.
The estimated cost and timeline for construction at 860 West San Carlos Street have not yet been shared.
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It’s great to see more affordable units coming to the West San Carlos area, though I’m a bit concerned about the “value-engineered” facade mentioned in the update. Does anyone know if the shift to painted cement plaster and fiber-cement siding at 860 West San Carlos meets the same long-term durability and safety standards as the previous 2022 design, especially regarding indoor air quality for the future residents? I was reading a community discussion about urban planning impacts and safety certifications over at GuiadePixbetbrasil.com and it made me wonder if the developer has released a full environmental impact report yet. I’d hate for the “affordable” aspect to result in lower health standards for the tenants.
You are throwing a lot of concerns at the wall, and it begs the question of whether you actually want this development or not. What does the exterior facade have to do with indoor air quality? EIR’s are not required for buildings under 80′ now, are you sure the need one? Projects go through myraid planning, design, building review and inspections, why would you think it wouldn’t be up to all applicable codes? Maybe you should go the Berkeley NIMBY route and bring it to court that more residents will cause noise pollution in an urban area.
I’m all for this, they should get building finally, but it’s a really disappointing update. Much shorter, from 12 to 7 stories and much uglier. The city should encourage market rate construction also, so brand new buildings don’t look like this, because market rate payers wouldn’t accept it. Then, since you increased housing supply – it puts less pressure on older buildings and makes them more affordable. I will never understand why we don’t have an “all of the above” housing strategy during a housing crisis like other states do.