SAN JOSE — Two eye-catching housing towers that would sprout atop the site of a San Jose parking lot have received final city approval in a fresh sign that developers continue to scout for ways to step away from office projects.
The towers would produce 768 residential units at 35 South Second St. in downtown San Jose, according to the just-approved proposal that was submitted by global mega-developer Westbank, which has proposed several projects in the city’s urban core.
City planning administrators approved the residential proposal this week.
One tower would be 28 stories and the other would be 27 stories, according to the proposal. The housing would rise on South Second Street between East Santa Clara Street and East San Fernando Street.
In 2021, Westbank proposed a curving tower with 314,000 square feet of office space on 10 floors and 194 housing units on another 10 floors.
“This pivot to residential was predictable,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy.
The aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak and the tech industry’s wide-ranging downsizing forced countless developers nationwide to scuttle their plans for new speculative offices built without tenants that had signed leases for the workspaces.
Housing demand, however, remains elevated, especially in regions such as the Bay Area, whose workers and residents must endure a housing squeeze.
The two-tower housing project also would contain 10,700 square feet of ground-floor retail and 26,100 square feet of residential lobbies and amenities.
Five underground levels would be built below the main buildings, including four levels of parking, plans on file with San Jose city officials show.
The residential levels will include landscaped balconies. Roof terraces are also envisioned, according to the proposal. The residential floors will feature alternating outdoor “rooms” and balconies.
The ground level will include alleyways. The walking surfaces will include brick pavers, green islands, water features and curved bands of granite, the project plans show. The project will also contain what is called an “urban room.”
“This is a good-looking design,” Staedler said. “I hope this can break ground in the near future.”
When Westbank initially proposed the mixed-use curving office and housing tower, the real estate firm hoped this project would create connections with the Bank of Italy historic tower at 12 South First St. on the other end of Fountain Alley.
“Currently a parking lot, this site allows for a dense building between two vibrant streets,” Westbank stated in a vision book about its efforts in downtown San Jose that the developer has circulated among real estate brokers.
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