San Jose Architect, Investor Plan Downtown Mixed-Use, Senior Living Projects
A longtime San Jose architect will partner with opportunity fund Urban Catalyst on the latter's latest dive into a San Jose opportunity zone.
The new project will be near Google's planned Diridon Station megaproject, the companies announced on Thursday.
Aedis Architects CEO Thang Do, whose firm is working with Urban Catalyst on project designs for the site, owns the 470 West San Carlos St. properties. The partnership will submit application paperwork to the city for an eight-story multifamily project and four-story senior living property "in the next 60 days or so," Urban Catalyst Managing Partner Erik Hayden told Bisnow.
The residential project would have ground-floor retail and front West San Carlos Street. Plans for the senior living property involve an assisted living and memory care focus, offering something Hayden says San Jose hasn't had built in over three decades.
"There is just this built-up demand for that project type in the community, which is one of the reasons we wanted to build that project type in this location," Hayden said. "Another is that it will abut single-family residences and more of a low-density neighborhood, and senior living makes for a good neighbor for that type of use."
The two projects, planned for the site of a used car lot and several for-rent single-family homes, mark developments four and five of the 10 the multiasset opportunity fund plans to ultimately invest in. Urban Catalyst most recently purchased 147 E. Santa Clara St. and 491 West San Carlos St. for the development of 250-unit mixed-use project and 170-key hotel, respectively.
Urban Catalyst is exploring with Aedis Architects the potential use of cross-laminated timber for the mixed-use project at 470 West San Carlos St., Hayden said. CLT is a prefabricated wood system meant to provide time and labor cost savings, and is a building method Hayden said early designs of the mixed-use project, called Madera, would likely accommodate.
Aedis has numerous Bay Area projects in its portfolio, including the recently renovated three-story downtown San Jose building at 387 South First St., which includes both Aedis's own headquarters at the top floor and the well-known SoFA Market at the ground floor.
Urban Catalyst plans on reaching its $250M funding goal by June 2020 and investing in 10 opportunity zone properties, Hayden told Bisnow in July. On its board of directors are Gary Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga of Urban Community, a San Jose real estate investment company that itself is on its way to spending billions in the city's downtown, the Silicon Valley Business Journal has reported.
Each of Urban Catalyst's announced projects thus far are in close proximity to each other and Diridon Station.
"We're really trying to create a synergy downtown and contribute to the revitalization of San Jose," Hayden said.
