{"id":487080,"date":"2026-10-06T16:32:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T16:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487080\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T16:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T16:32:32","slug":"san-jose-schools-keep-options-alive-for-workforce-housing-gambits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487080\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose schools keep options alive for workforce housing gambits"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 School officials have filed official plans to develop homes in San Jose even as they conduct an intense analysis about buying a downtown tower, efforts that both are aimed at housing for staff and teachers.<\/p>\n

The development project is slated to emerge at 760 Hillsdale Ave.<\/a> in South San Jose, where the San Jose Unified School District has proposed the development of new apartments.<\/p>\n

The other effort envisions the school district\u2019s purchase of an existing apartment tower<\/a> near San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe San Jose Unified School District continues to advance its commitment to establish affordable workforce housing,\u201d the education system stated recently, referring to the dual housing efforts<\/a> now underway.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 5, the district filed a preliminary proposal to develop an apartment hub at 760 Hillsdale Blvd. in South San Jose that seeks a streamlined review process through provisions of SB 330, city planning files show.<\/p>\n

This project is slated to produce 288 apartments on a site that the school district owns. The apartments would be rented to school district teachers and staffers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SB 330 pre-application will initiate a preliminary review for ground-up construction at the Hillsdale site, which has an estimated timeline of 26 to 41 months before construction begins,\u201d the school district stated.<\/p>\n

This construction timeline suggests the Hillsdale Avenue apartments might not be ready for occupancy for at least four to five years.<\/p>\n

Separately, the San Jose school district is reviewing the potential purchase of the 337-unit eastern tower at 188 West St. James St. Real estate firm Machine Investment Group is selling condominiums in the 303-unit western tower, while the eastern tower has never been occupied and remains empty.<\/p>\n

San Jose Unified School District officials say they will give final approval to just one of the two options but not both.<\/p>\n

These two housing strategies have emerged after voters in November 2024 approved Measure R<\/a>, which authorizes the school district to issue $1.15 billion in bonds over 30 years for facilities improvements.<\/p>\n

An estimated $283 million of that amount could be used to create housing for staffers and teachers.<\/p>\n

A purchase of the eastern tower would have the benefit of making more units available more quickly than ground-up construction, although school officials emphasize no final decisions have been made.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Jose Unified is currently conducting extensive due diligence\u201d regarding the eastern tower, the district said in statements it released on Sept. 29.<\/p>\n

CBRE, a commercial real estate firm, is leading the analysis of the array of factors involved with a property purchase.<\/p>\n

A purchase of the tower \u201ccould deliver affordable housing to employees at a lower cost than building from the ground up\u201d and \u201cmake affordable housing a reality for our employees much faster, potentially within the next year, rather than three to four years or more for new construction,\u201d the school district stated.<\/p>\n

If a purchase were to occur, that would mean the district would have more Measure R money left over to invest in its neighborhood schools.<\/p>\n

As the district makes progress toward one choice or the other, the education system vowed to keep the public fully informed about the options and outcomes.<\/p>\n

Before any major decisions are made, the issues and options will be discussed thoroughly, the school district promised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe independent Measure R Citizens\u2019 Bond Oversight Committee will thoroughly review and report publicly on whether any employee housing expenditure is entirely consistent with Measure R language and the voters\u2019 explicit direction to the district,\u201d school officials stated on Sept. 29.<\/p>\n

The school district\u2019s board of education would vote on a preferred option only after a full and open debate about the issues takes place.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy thoroughly evaluating every option, San Jose Unified honors voter intent, ensures fiscal responsibility, and enables the best possible future experiences for both students and the dedicated teachers and staff who serve them,\u201d school officials stated.<\/p>\n

\"EasternEastern tower of the two-tower residential complex at 188 West St. James Street in downtown San Jose, seen in 2024. (Google Maps)\u00a0(Google Maps)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 School officials have filed official plans to develop homes in San Jose even as they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[380,184,387,7,8,1335,4978,383,15,1011,1337,4730,1533,181,23,100,388,88,90,89,5406,198,94685,200,201],"class_list":["post-487080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-affordable-housing","tag-bay-area","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-development","tag-downtown-san-jose","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-housing","tag-housing-development","tag-k-12-education","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-real-estate","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-real-estate","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-social-alert","tag-south-bay","tag-south-san-jose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}