While the city’s overall housing production has lagged, more projects are progressing in North San Jose, with the latest promising to add more than 700 homes near a major tech hub.
San Jose has approved a site development permit for Valley Oak Partners’ 737-unit multi-phase residential project between 211 and 281 River Oaks Parkway. The project includes a seven-story, 505-unit market-rate apartment building, a five-story, 132-unit, 100% affordable apartment building and 100 for-sale townhouse units configured in 14 three-story buildings.
“This site’s been vacant for many years, and when we were first introduced to this site about two and a half years ago, it was in the time when builders’ remedy applications seeking to lower density were abundant,” said Scott Connelly, a representative of Valley Oaks Partners. “We took a different approach. Our company is based in San Jose and we felt it was important to design a project that fell within the vision and spirit of the underlying (transit employment residential) overlay in the San Jose Citywide Guidelines, especially with respect to density per acre.”
The 9.82-acre project site extends to Iron Point Drive to the West and Cisco Way to the east. Major tech employers within the vicinity include Cisco, Intel and Broadcom.
To make way for the development, the developer will demolish the three existing buildings, totaling approximately 164,606 square feet.
The affordable housing building will offer a mix of units from studios to three-bedroom apartments at up to 80% of the area median income (AMI). The AMI in Santa Clara County this year is $195,200 for a household of four people.
The 505-unit market-rate building will include 54 studios and 325 one-bedroom units. It also will house 101 two-bedroom and 25 three-bedroom apartments.
Although the state required San Jose to plan for 62,200 new housing units by 2031, the city has struggled to get projects started over the past few years, falling well behind the pace needed to meet that goal.
A recent study by HomeAbroad found that San Jose saw the largest decline in home building permits among large cities. When comparing 2000 and 2025 data, San Jose’s permitting activity has dropped 68%.
Large-scale developments also have become increasingly challenging to build due to burdensome regulations and high construction and labor costs.
Last year, San Jose saw zero new market-rate multi-family residential developments with more than 20 units break ground. The city has made some inroads this year, thanks in large part to a multi-family housing incentive program that has shaved development fees and taxes, making some projects feasible to build again.
Despite the city’s struggles, North San Jose has several large projects now underway, which has helped alleviate the city’s housing crisis.
Just last week, the Facchino Family began demolishing structures at its 13-acre property at 1655 Berryessa Road before construction commences on a new mixed-income neighborhood near the BART Station.
Also in North San Jose, the Hanover Co.’s Coyote Creek Village project broke ground in May and will eventually create nearly 1,500 new homes near the intersection of Montague Expressway and Seely Avenue.
While the Valley Oak Partners’ project did not receive any pushback during Wednesday’s planning director’s meeting, project manager Alec Atienza said residents raised concerns during community meetings about affordability, tree removal, pedestrian safety, traffic congestion, and the need for more commercial space.
Connelly noted that the project includes several public street improvements, including enhanced crosswalks, widened sidewalks, and monetary contributions toward bike lanes on Cisco Way.
He also added that the developers would save some Redwood trees after receiving community input.
“What we learned during our community outreach with the neighbors was we came to understand the importance of preserving those trees, or trying to preserve as many as possible,” Connelly said. “While some of the trees have been deemed not suitable to remain because of their health, or a few with proximities closer to future buildings, we have been able to preserve and keep 10.”