San Jose has taken its first tentative steps to soften longstanding building rules requiring all new apartment buildings — even relatively small ones — to include at least two stairways. Housing advocates have campaigned for years to scrap such requirements for mid-rise residential buildings, arguing they significantly add to the cost of constructing new homes....
Silicon Valley real estate development lowest since 2013
It is the best of times and worst of times for commercial real estate and development in Silicon Valley, according to the newest quarterly report from economic think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. The good news is Silicon Valley developers completed 5.6 million square feet of new office and industrial space in the first nine...
Damaged East San Jose youth center demolished
A vacant former youth center in East San Jose has been demolished more than a month after a fire halted plans for its restoration. Excavators knocked down what remained of the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) building Saturday, breaking the hearts of community advocates who fought to save it. Trustees with the Alum Rock...
Silicon Valley community college district buys workforce housing
Dozens of Santa Clara County professors and administrative staff will be some of the first to move into affordable apartments reserved for community college employees, thanks to one school district’s unique housing approach. The Foothill-De Anza Community College District board unanimously approved a roughly $54.5 million purchase of 50 affordable apartments for staff earlier this month. The...
East San Jose school district waits for burned youth center assessment
As an East San Jose school district gets quotes to potentially demolish a former vacant youth center that caught fire last month, advocates are still attempting to save it. The Alum Rock Union School District is still weighing what needs to be done with the former Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) building, which burned...
San Jose grapples with preserving its past
With a Japantown family-run business on the brink, a debate over historic preservation has San Jose in a headlock — preserve the past at a cost, or chase the future at a loss. A series of debt-accruing business choices threaten Japantown’s well-known Trigg family with the prospect of losing their home and businesses. They own Jtown...
Future of East San Jose youth center uncertain after fire
A devastating fire that recently gutted a vacant youth center in East San Jose hasn’t diminished the community’s desire to restore it for future use. The former Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) building burned down Friday, breaking the hearts of Eastside advocates who want to revitalize and reuse the space. The Alum Rock Union...
Fines to skyrocket for San Jose blighted property owners
San Jose leaders are raising the maximum daily fines for absentee landowners whose properties attract blight and crime — an aggressive signal that one official says makes the city’s penalties some of the highest in the state. The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved raising daily penalties from $2,500 to a maximum of $20,000 for...
San Jose low-income families get a shot at home ownership
Four low-income families in San Jose will soon be able to purchase a home of their own. Habitat for Humanity has been renovating the historic Pallesen Apartments building, now located at the corner of Fourth and Reed streets, and will sell the condominiums to first-time buyers when the rehabilitation is complete in August. The 115-year-old...
San Jose business owner gets temporary reprieve from VTA
A San Jose business owner won’t have to scramble to make way for a transit project and lose millions of dollars in inventory after entering discussions with VTA. Sridhar Kollareddy, owner of Silicon Valley Granite, has more time to move thousands of heavy granite slabs out of his shop after talking with VTA Tuesday about...