Developers behind a proposed nine-story apartment tower just outside downtown San José are trying to hit the housing accelerator, asking the city to process the project under California’s SB 35 fast-track law. The latest plan would put a 100% affordable, 99-unit building at South Almaden and Balbach streets, next to the existing Arya affordable complex. According to the development team, the new design nearly doubles an earlier concept for the site and leans heavily on compact, rent-restricted units reserved for very-low and low-income renters.
As reported by The Mercury News, the current proposal calls for a nine-story, 99-unit building that is entirely affordable, with a mix of 67 studios, 31 one-bedrooms and a single two-bedroom unit. Satellite Affordable Housing Associates is listed as the applicant and told the outlet it plans to invoke SB 35, which would avoid discretionary hearings at the planning commission and city council and sharply limit review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Mercury News notes that the move represents a major upsizing from a previously approved 53-unit concept on the same parcel.
The city’s own records on the SJ BUILD portal show that 501 S. Almaden Ave already secured an SB 35 ministerial approval in December 2022 for an eight-story project with 53 homes. That earlier sign-off also identified Satellite Affordable Housing Associates as the applicant and cited the use of State Density Bonus concessions and waivers. The new nine-story version appears to be a reworked scheme that pushes a bit higher into the skyline while sticking with a fully affordable program.
How SB 35 Would Speed Approval
SB 35 offers a streamlined, ministerial path for qualifying infill housing that meets strict affordability and zoning rules, effectively cutting out many of the public hearings that can bog projects down. The California Department of Housing and Community Development explains that if a proposal checks all of the objective boxes, a city must process it on a set timeline with limited CEQA review. In practice, that translates to staff-level approvals instead of drawn-out design-review meetings and appeals that can stretch entitlements for months or even years.
Local Context And Next Steps
San José has recently rolled out its own ministerial approval ordinance and has already used similar streamlined paths for other large projects, which the city says have shaved months off the usual schedule. A City of San José announcement on the program highlights developments that moved from application to entitlement much faster than historic averages. Whether this 99-unit redesign qualifies under SB 35 and the local ministerial rules, and how neighbors will respond to a taller all-affordable tower, will come into focus as the application moves through the Planning, Building and Code Enforcement Department.
If it clears the ministerial bar, the project would deliver nearly 100 deeply affordable apartments on the doorstep of downtown San José and serve as a real-world test of how quickly larger affordable buildings can be permitted under state streamlining laws. As the entitlement advances, key filings and public notices are expected to appear on the SJ BUILD portal, and formal eligibility rulings will determine whether the usual discretionary hearings are skipped. We will update this story as the city releases new documents and staff decisions.
