SAN JOSE — A housing development with about 100 units that would replace a big north San Jose office building is making progress and is poised to use a builder’s remedy to smooth the project’s path to approval.
The project’s latest version envisions 101 residences on a 3.9-acre site at 2107 North First St. in San Jose, according to documents filed with city planners.
Housing development at 2107 North First Street in north San Jose, with a community center visible to the left, concept. (WHA Architects)
The proposal envisions 93 “primary units” that would consist of a mix of townhomes, flats, studios, or efficiency units. Eight “junior accessory units” are also proposed, the planning documents show.
The existing office building would be demolished. The six-story building totals 103,200 square feet and is next to a light rail line.
2107 North First Street, an office building in north San Jose. (Google Maps)
The development site is next to the corporate headquarters of tech titan PayPal in a north San Jose area dotted by numerous tech company operations.
The size of the housing development at 2107 North First has varied since a residential proposal initially surfaced for the property months ago.
The counts for the residences have ranged from 85 units to as many as 105 townhomes.
Stanley Group, a local real estate firm, owns the property. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Stanley Group intends to undertake the development itself if the city approves the project.
The property owner has proposed the use of a builder’s remedy and provisions of SB 330 to seek a streamlined city approval process for the project.
More property owners and developers have begun to pitch plans of varying types to transform existing office properties into housing projects.
The rocky post-coronavirus market for office buildings has prodded developers to seek alternatives to some commercial real estate properties.
Wide-ranging business shutdowns to combat the spread of the deadly bug chased office employees from their workplaces.
Yet even after the restrictions were lifted, the return to the office has proceeded at an uneven pace.
Record-high vacancy levels throughout the Bay Area have left offices empty and in numerous instances raised the specter of foreclosures due to delinquent loans.
As a result, proposals for housing developments to replace office buildings or convert the structures to residential sites have surfaced more frequently in the Bay Area.
