San Jose planners have quietly given the green light to a seven-story, 272-unit, all-affordable apartment complex on West San Carlos Street near Diridon and a string of nearby restaurants and shops. The signoff, issued at an administrative hearing, secures planning entitlements for the development team, which says it is leaning heavily into family-sized units and long-term affordability. With that box checked, the hard slog of financing, permitting and contractor selection now stands between the project and a construction start.
What the approval covers
According to The Mercury News, the approved plan is for a seven-story building with 272 apartments that the developers are pitching as a 100% affordable project. The outlet reports that 55 apartments are set aside for very-low-income households earning up to 50% of area median income (AMI), with the remaining 217 units reserved for households earning up to 80% of AMI. City planners signed off on those entitlements at an administrative hearing on Wednesday, according to the reporting.
Official filings show unit mix and timeline
In a December 2025 staff report to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, the proposal, listed as "Block A Family Apartments," is described as having 107 one-bedroom units, 96 two-bedroom units and 69 three-bedroom units, plus a garage with roughly 242 parking spaces. The same packet shows the project requested $5,714,173 in annual federal low-income housing tax credits and $38,000,000 in tax-exempt bond cap, and it lays out a projected construction schedule that starts in May 2026 and wraps up in July 2028. The report identifies Green Valley Corporation doing business as Swenson as the developer and FPI Management as the proposed management agent.
How affordability compares with local AMI
The affordability set-asides reported by The Mercury News do not align exactly with the ranges in the state filing, which describes the project as serving households at roughly 30% to 70% of AMI. Per the City of San José's HCD-based income table, the 2025 Santa Clara County AMI is listed as $195,200 for a family of four and $136,650 for a one-person household, figures agencies rely on to determine eligibility bands and rent limits.
Design and neighborhood fit
Design illustrations credited to Swenson depict a 79-foot-tall building with five wood-framed residential floors stacked over a two-story concrete podium, along with podium-level courtyards, a fitness center, multipurpose rooms and bicycle storage. The 2.2-acre site sits between Sunol Street and Swenson Drive and represents the third phase after Silver at Ohlone and Patina@Midtown, placing residents within walking or biking distance of Diridon Station and nearby retail, as reported by SF YIMBY.
Financing and next steps
The developers have formally applied for the tax credits and tax-exempt bond authority outlined in the CDLAC staff report, which are intended to support deeper affordability levels. Securing those allocations would be a pivotal step toward locking in the project’s capital stack. Even with planning entitlements now in place, the team still needs final financing commitments, building permits and a chosen contractor before construction can begin on the schedule sketched out in the state filing.
Neighbors, housing advocates and city officials will be watching how quickly the financing pieces and permitting fall into place for what is described as one of the larger 100% affordable family housing efforts in San José in recent years. Public hearings or state-level funding allocation decisions could provide the next meaningful update as the project moves from paperwork to actual shovels in the ground.
