Historic San Jose Building Poised To Become Senior Housing

By Joseph Geha, San Jose Spotlight

February 22, 2023

The San Jose Planning Commission will consider approving plans tonight for a high-rise tower in downtown with 220 apartments for adults aged 55 and older.

Roygbiv Real Estate Development wants to gut a two-story historic structure, the Realty Building, while maintaining its facade. The developer plans to build a narrow, 22-story tower in the small footprint, with nearly 19,000 square feet on the first two floors for commercial use. The building is located at 19 N. 2nd St., on a little less than a quarter acre, near the corner of Santa Clara Street, according to city reports.

Kurt Anderson, the architect on the project, said the apartments will be for “active seniors” seeking an urban lifestyle. He sees this as an unmet need in downtown San Jose.

“(For) people that want to live in the downtown core and don’t mind walking,” Anderson told San José Spotlight. “I think this thing will fill up in a heartbeat.”

All of the apartments will be below-market rate, though most will be on the upper end of the affordable housing scales. Loida Kirkley, CEO of Roygbiv, said the project will make roughly 25 apartments affordable to lower income residents earning up to 60% of the area median income, which is currently about $71,000 annually in Santa Clara County for one person.

The balance of the apartments will be priced as affordable to people earning more than that, up to 120% of the area median income, which is about $141,000 annually for one person.

The project has been greenlighted by the Historic Landmarks Commission, and following the planning commission review, the San Jose City Council is likely to vote on the project at the end of March, Anderson said.

Gabrielle Antolovich, a 73-year-old San Jose resident and president of the board for the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center, said she thinks housing for older adults is needed downtown, though she would prefer to see deeper levels of affordability.

“I love older adult units because so many people are living longer and may not want to leave San Jose for something they can afford better, because when you’ve been around a place, familiarity is really important too,” Antolovich told San José Spotlight. “You know places and people and where to walk, there’s a sense of community even in tiny ways like that.”

She said the estimated affordability levels of the apartments are likely too pricey for many older adults in the city, especially those who are on fixed incomes from retirement accounts and Social Security.

Due to the immense wealth in Santa Clara County, apartments for people who earn $140,000 a year are called affordable, something Antolovich said amounts to a paradox.

“Affordable means poor people can afford it, that’s my translation,” she said.

In addition to restoring and maintaining the olive green facade of the building, the plans call for the walls of the building to be retained and integrated in the project, along with a portion of the roof. A “recessed glazed central bay” will run vertically up the center of the restored building, city reports said.

One longtime tenant in the building is Angelou’s Mexican Grill, a popular spot for California burritos. Kirkley, the developer, said she would offer relocation assistance to the current tenants.

Teresa Lopez, owner of Angelou’s, told San José Spotlight that when the development was first proposed, the current building owners and managers told her nothing about it. She and her husband found out when the city posted a development notice sign in the window next door.

The business has operated in that location since it opened in 2006, Lopez said. She said she’s never missed a rent payment, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s going to be very hard for us to find something else,” she said.

If approved by the planning commission and city council, the apartment project could break ground in about 18 months to two years, Anderson said. It would take about two and a half years to build.

The San Jose Planning Commission meets tonight at 6:30 p.m. Watch the meeting live on YouTube or participate via Zoom.

This story will be updated.

Contact Joseph Geha at joseph@sanjosespotlight.com or @josephgeha16 on Twitter.

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