A development group led by Westbank is ready to get the final nod for a 17-story apartment highrise in Downtown San Jose.
The Vancouver-based developer, together with locally based Urban Community and Terrascape Ventures, hopes to get final approval for its 345-unit complex at 23 Terraine Street, in North San Pedro, SiliconValley.com reported.
The proposal could receive final approval on Wednesday, March 27, at an administrative hearing by city planners.
Plans call for an apartment tower on 1.6 acres at Terraine and Bassett streets, along Highway 87. Westbank, Urban Community and Terrascape bought the site in 2021 for $11.4 million.
The highrise would include 12,000 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants, plus a nine-story parking garage for 621 cars.
The Westbank-led group also has proposed a 210,000-square-foot office building on the site, which would be built in a second phase of development by converting the garage into offices.
Given challenges to the Bay Area office market, it’s not clear if the garage-to-office conversion would move forward.
The new apartments and ground-floor shops and restaurants would be a good addition to Downtown San Jose, according to Bob Staedler of Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy.
“This project furthers Downtown San Jose’s development goals and a mix of active and vibrant uses,” Staedler told SiliconValley.com. “This helps boost San Jose’s tax base to pay for important services throughout the city.”
Westbank, led by Ian Gillespie, and Urban Community, led by Gary Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga, have been active in Downtown San Jose.
In January, the joint venture was poised to break ground on a 540-unit highrise known as Orchard Residential at 409 South Second Street, in SoFa.
Plans for Orchard Residential, approved in late 2022, include a 30-story apartment tower with 540 units and 7,500 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants. Its jutting balconies appear overgrown with trees and plants beneath a Googie-style zig-zag roof.
Its Park Habitat, a 20-story office and retail tower at 180 Park Avenue, broke ground in April 2022 and was expected to be completed next year. The 1.2 million-square-foot office and retail complex will expand the Tech Interactive museum and include numerous gardens, as well as a “green lung” ventilation system to allow people to essentially work in a park.
Read more
Residential
San Francisco
Developers now plan 150 homes in Bank of Italy tower in San Jose
Residential
San Francisco
Joint venture ready to build 540 “net-zero” apartments in San Jose
Development
New York
Westbank's Ian Gillespie wants to reshape San Jose. Can he pull it off?
Westbank and Urban Community also moved forward with plans to build a 21-story office and residential tower at 35 South Second Street. The 750,000-square-foot Energy Hub Tower, sprouting with foliage, would include 194 apartments and 30,800 square feet of retail space, including ground-floor shops and restaurants and a gym on the second floor.
Early this year, Westbank and Urban Community updated plans for the third project to convert the century-old, 13-story Bank of Italy building into as many as 150 homes at 12 South First Street.
The Mediterranean Revival and Beaux-Arts landmark, designed by Henry Minton, was built in 1926 for the Bank of Italy, the forerunner of Bank of America. It’s listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
— Dana Bartholomew