Preliminary permits have been filed for affordable housing at a sprawling parking lot at 143 South Third Street in Downtown San Jose, Santa Clara County. The proposal shifts away from a 24-story mixed-use tower that was first proposed by the Sobrato Organization in 2015. Pacific West Communities is responsible for the application.
The initial plans call for a 173-unit apartment complex, with all but two units deed-restricted affordable housing. This includes 17 units for extremely low-income households, 17 for very low-income households, and 137 for low-income households. Two apartments will be set aside for the on-site property managers. Further information about the scale and architectural design has yet to be shared.
The previous plans filed by the Sobrato Organization, since withdrawn, called for a 24-story mixed-use tower with 393 apartments and around 7,000 square feet of retail. The plans were designed by the famed Florida-based architecture firm Arquitectonica.
South Second Street tower illustrations, rendering by Arquitectonica
The pre-application invokes Senate Bill 330 to freeze local zoning regulations and streamline the approval process.
The roughly 1.3-acre property is located between South Second and South Third Streets on a block bound by East San Fernando Street and San Carlos Street. The site is currently a surface parking lot next to the Hammer Theater Center, a performing arts theater reopened by San Jose State University in 2016.
The estimated cost and timeline for construction have not yet been shared.
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Sure, why not?
It is unfortunate that the previous plan got downgraded in unit count. The best ‘affordable housing’ plan is a greater number of units.
But the fact that an open parking lot has been there for decades is even worse. Build the housing fast!
The Bay Area could be / will be 20M people, no problem, if we just filled in the surface parking lots and replaced single story retail buildings with housing above that retail.
We need apartment building units that are closer to 1,500 – 2,500 square feet to create a real alternative to single family homes.
This is so true, we live in a ~1400 sqft apartment and would love to find a larger place, but buying a house is expensive and there are very very few apartments larger than our current one available anywhere near us. I would imagine the demand for large family size apartments would be huge if they were built (of course the cost and return on investment are another thing).
I think the most likely outcome is the demolition of a lot of the undersized single family homes in favor of a 3-4 story, full floor unit building. Basically what a lot of the Haight / Panhandle areas of SF are.
– Ground floor is parking, storage, possibly an ADU.
– Floors 2/3/4 are full-floor apartments, which can easily be 2,500 square feet each if built properly to use about 75% of the lot.
– The last 25% of the lot is a shared backyard. I’m even open to the idea of no backyard and just maxing out the apartment size, and lean into public parks instead.
Separately, we need large apartment buildings to have more 4 and 5 bedroom floor plans.
While I applaud building over any surface parking lot, the new plan should be a non starter. It drops density from over 300 to 130 units per acre. SJSU shows what is possible with plans for 1000+ units on a similar size plot 250′ south on the same block. The city needs a developer to build to the highest and best use here, not to shoehorn in a 1MM per unit affordable project that really only benefits the developer themselves.
I appreciate what you’re saying, but I think the fact that the SJSU proposal you’re talking about has been on hold for “strategic reevaluation” for years after it was found not to be economically feasible says a lot. Developers can only build things that turn a profit, and high rise housing San Jose does not.
Given the shift from a 24-story tower to a much smaller affordable housing project, does anyone know if the developer is still required to include community space or specific health-related amenities mentioned in previous downtown San Jose zoning updates at guiadebetnacionalbrasil.com or is that all being scrapped for the smaller footprint?
Another Arquitectonica design withdrawn from downtown San José. The replacement will be half the size with half the tenants, in a relatively small city center. San José needs to build high rises, not squat six story buildings.
Downtown would have looked much more stylish and dramatic had this city’s politicians and developers been more insistent on bold and ambitious architecture. Why is it that one of the richest cities in the world can’t construct iconic structures?
I liked it better when it was proposed as a mirror image of the 88.
Do you think people are going to stop driving parking nightmare.