Two developers have come forward with a joint proposal to transform the site at 3550 N First Street in San Jose. The resulting developments would convert the site from a vacant office property to as many as 446 new units of housing. SummerHill Homes and Cypress Equity are the two developers who have floated the plan.
3550 N First Street current Site, image via Google Street View
After completion, the development would consist of a large affordable apartment complex, with 373 units designated for below-market-rate. The units will target residents making 60% of the area’s median income. Separately, the project will also see the construction of 73 townhouse-style condominiums to be sold at market rate.
The total development will span a vast area of 5.9 acres. The property layout and designs for the buildings are still being reviewed before they can be finalized and approved for development, but the developers have indicated intentions for separate townhome and apartment buildings, with vehicle circulation, surface parking areas, and landscaped areas of the property.
The site’s location is ideally placed near several arterial roadways, allowing easy vehicle access for prospective new tenants. The Tasman light rail station provides additional transit access as well. The area of North San Jose was historically developed with more commercial and industrial properties than housing, but in recent years there has been a shift, with several new housing developments being built and proposed in close proximity. The housing surge may also support growth in nearby community amenities, including stores and restaurants. Residents of the future property can look forward to the neighborhood’s changing atmosphere.
3550 N First Street Site Location, image via ArcGIS Online
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How about they leave the office building and add 400+ homes to the vacant back half of the property? Where are all the people that live here going to work if all the offices in NSJ get bulldozed for housing? Let neighboring Santa Clara and Sunnyvale build housing for people that work in their cities, the burden shouldn’t be on San Jose.
The article notes the office building is vacant, this area has a huge oversupply of offices and its probably really hard to fill older buildings like this. The developer can make way more money and the city will get more in property taxes if they remove the empty building that will be hard to fill and replace it with housing which is in much higher demand. A quick look at google earth will show you that there is a ton of remaining job centers all around this area.
I agree with Chris; lots of empty or underutilized office and industrial property around there (and all over the Bay area). Besides, a low-rise office building with a paved surface parking lot and a few token trees is 1970’s-1980’s land use planning. If we need and want offices, let’s put them on the first couple of floors of a building with housing on upper floors, European-style.