Housing

Housing

Santa Clara County property values propel higher

The value of all real estate and business property in Santa Clara County jumped up by $41.2 billion last year, despite a contracting market in the latter half of 2022. That topline figure represents a 6.6% increase over the prior year, according to Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone’s 2023 Assessment Roll. Real estate and...

Popular private school brand expanding in San Jose

A popular private school owned by a Chinese investment firm is expanding in northeast San Jose. Merryhill School, which runs an elementary program on 750 N. Capitol Ave., gained city approval last week for a new school to serve up to 252 students just a mile up the road at 1207 N. Capitol Ave. Plans call...

San Jose official’s stay in homeless shelter exposes reality

When San Jose Councilmember Omar Torres was challenged to sleep in a homeless shelter, he responded by staying at two different sites. Former homeless resident Sketch Oppie invited the entire city council to experience staying in a shelter to help them understand why allocating dollars to affordable housing is the better long-term solution to homelessness. While other councilmembers...

Hundreds of apartments planned near downtown San Jose

More than 200 apartments could be coming to San Jose’s Buena Vista neighborhood as city planning officials consider a proposal that would require demolition of several buildings. Cupertino-based Urban Villas LLC is pitching a slightly bigger version of a previously approved project just outside of downtown San Jose that includes 237 apartments and nearly 17,000 square feet of...

San Jose wants to help renters fight evictions

Following a tsunami of evictions, San Jose is looking at ways to help residents from losing their homes, and heading off the problem before it reaches the courts. The eviction issue has skyrocketed in San Jose, especially after the expiration of COVID-19 pandemic-era tenant protections. Toward the end of 2022, hundreds of San Jose residents...

What’s next for empty Safeway in downtown San Jose

A prominent commercial space in downtown San Jose is being taken over by a new business, following more than four years of vacancy. OneMedAll, an oral wellness and health consulting company based in San Jose, is planning to open its first customer-facing location at 100 S. Second St., the same space where a Safeway shuttered...

Dilapidated San Jose church repairs put on hold

A plan by San Jose officials to protect a historic former church that has been all but ignored by its owner is now in limbo. The roughly 120-year-old former First Church of Christ Scientist near St. James Park in downtown may continue to be allowed to wither, as a proposal to spend $200,000 of city money...