SAN JOSE — A big housing development — whose units will all be affordable — could produce well over 700 residences on empty land near tech hubs and Google-owned sites in San Jose, city documents show.
The project’s developers envision 780 residences, according to a filing that proposes a “100% affordable housing” project that would be built at 7 Topgolf Drive in San Jose.
Buildings in a 780-unit affordable housing development on a 3.2-acre site at 7 Topgolf Drive in north San Jose’s Alviso district, concept. (JPark Architects)
The development effort is being led by an alliance of a South Korea-based real estate firm and a San Jose-based startup that specializes in modular apartments.
The affordable housing project could sprout on 3.2 acres next to the busy Topgolf sports, entertainment and dining venue in north San Jose’s Alviso district.
Housing, retail spaces and gathering areas within a 780-unit affordable housing development on a 3.2-acre site at 7 Topgolf Drive in north San Jose’s Alviso district, concept. (JPark Architects)
The housing would be contained within eight buildings on a site near the interchange of North First Street and State Route 237.
The residences would be studios or one-bedroom units, according to the plans on file with city officials.
At one point, a 200-room hotel was envisioned for the site, a project that seemed like a good bet when the proposal was floated before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the start of business shutdowns in March 2020.
Once the deadly virus arrived and began to batter the lodging and travel industries worldwide, the hotel project’s prospects deteriorated.
Affordable housing development site at 7 Topgolf Drive in north San Jose’s Alviso district, shown within the outline. Boundaries are approximate. (Google Maps)
The North San Jose hotel was never constructed. Instead, the project encountered severe financial woes.
The property’s loan fell into default. Ultimately, the loan was foreclosed and the lender seized the property.
Pine Tree Investment & Management, a South Korea-based real estate firm that is an affiliate of the lender, took ownership of the empty land in May 2022, documents on file with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.
Through a trustee’s deed, Pine Tree Investment paid $27.6 million to buy the land in the wake of the foreclosure.
Now, the latest plans for the site call for a huge housing development on the choice property.
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The project site is very close to a future Google campus and is in a part of San Jose that’s dotted with tech company operations.
The project’s eight buildings are all proposed as seven-story structures. One of the buildings would have retail spaces on the ground floor, according to the development plans.
LH Housing, which is officially known as Korea Land and Housing Corp., is leading the residential development effort, the city planning files show.
The project team also includes Cloud Apartments, a Bay Area company that produces factory-built modular apartments that can be snapped together at a project site.
Cloud Apartments hopes to use its affordable housing approach to make a dent in the housing woes nationwide.
“There is an urgent housing crisis in America because it is simply too expensive and takes too long to build,” Cloud Apartments states in a post on its website. “Middle-income renters, among others, are struggling.”
