A long-underused surface parking lot in downtown San Jose could soon trade parked cars for renters on tight budgets. Developers have submitted a preliminary plan to turn the roughly 1.3-acre site at 143 South Third Street, a block from the Paseo de San Antonio, into an affordable apartment complex. The early blueprint calls for 173 homes in total, with 171 income-restricted apartments and two manager units, set aside across extremely low-, very low- and low-income tiers. If it moves forward, the project would add dozens of homes for households squeezed out of the South Bay market.
What Was Filed And Where
A preliminary application at City Hall describes a six-story, fully affordable residential building, according to The Mercury News. The plan lists The Sobrato Organization and Pacific West Communities as partners and places the project on a parcel stretching between South Second and South Third streets. Developers describe the site as about 1.3 acres of surface parking that has sat largely unused for years.
Units And Who Would Qualify
The preliminary breakdown sets aside 17 apartments for extremely low-income households, 17 for very low-income households, and 137 for low-income renters. Those buckets use California’s income categories. The state’s Department of Housing and Community Development has published 2025 income limits that put one-person extremely low and low thresholds at about $42,200 and $111,700, respectively, and a four-person low limit near $159,550. In practical terms, that means many local families earning well below Silicon Valley’s typical paychecks could qualify for the deepest rent restrictions if the project secures financing and moves ahead.
Who Is Behind It And How Fast It Could Move
The filing names longtime local landholder The Sobrato Organization alongside Pacific West Communities as the development team, and it indicates the partners intend to rely on SB 330 provisions to streamline local review, according to the application submitted to the city. Company representatives have said projects of this type take time to assemble but help pull more residents into the city’s core. David Taxin stated that “we need more people downtown, and projects like this help,” and Bob Staedler called it “great to see a project that will increase the daytime and nighttime population of downtown San Jose,” as reported by The Mercury News. The proposal is still at an early stage and will need entitlements, funding and city approvals before any construction work can start.
Why Planners And Neighbors Will Be Watching
Pacific West Communities and its affiliates have worked on affordable housing projects around the region, fitting into a broader pattern in which private developers team up with landowners to deliver deeply affordable units, according to project materials highlighted by The Pacific Companies. The Sobrato family and its organizations have also committed land and capital to housing efforts in recent years, including contributions to funds and sites for affordable and interim housing, as detailed in statements from The Sobrato Organization. Put together, the new filing signals that builders see both demand and potential public funding channels for deeper affordability in the downtown core.
The proposal still has to clear the usual gauntlet of city review, financing commitments and community hearings. Even so, housing advocates and nearby businesses are likely to track it closely as a possible step toward bringing more full-time residents downtown, with the promise of more riders for transit, more customers for shops and more people on the streets after dark.
