Slender downtown housing tower gets revamp, BART entrance

SAN JOSE >> A slender housing tower in downtown San Jose has been revamped to accommodate a train station entrance, commercial spaces and a reduction in the number of homes in the highrise, city plans show.

The Eterna housing tower is being redesigned to include one of the BART station entrances that will appear in a future downtown San Jose rapid transit station planned for the corner of Santa Clara Street and First Street.

The residential tower is expected to total 26 stories, the plans on file at San Jose City Hall show.

Since the new configuration for Eterna Tower includes the station entrance, the entire second floor will now consist of commercial spaces totaling about 6,500 square feet, according to Kurt Anderson, the architect for the project.

“The second-floor office space would be a great location for a startup, an attorney, or an architect,” Anderson said.

The location adjacent to the BART entrance would likely be high-profile.

“You are right above the BART station,” Anderson said. “It would be great for a professional office or small tech company.”

The revamp also means fewer residences. The tower will contain 192 housing units, a slight reduction from 200 in the prior proposal, according to Anderson.

The project is being developed by Roygbiv Real Estate Development, a company that was founded by Loida Kirkley, who is the firm’s chief executive officer.

If Eterna Tower is built, the highrise would be a very visible addition to downtown San Jose. The project would sprout on two parcels on East Santa Clara

Street.

In February 2020, Roygbiv Real Estate paid $3.4 million to purchase the property at 17 through 25 E. Santa Clara St. Roygbiv is in contract to buy an adjacent parcel, Anderson said.

Terms of the pending property purchase weren’t immediately available. The property at 29 through 31 E. Santa Clara has an assessed value of $1.4 million, according to Santa Clara County property records.

The anticipated amenities in the tower include a rooftop deck, according to Anderson.

The project’s developer also intends to work with a local artist to install murals on two sides of the building, according to Anderson.

The new tower, if built, could attract residents who want to live near some of the new major office centers that are being built and are being planned in downtown San Jose.

Two big tech companies are pushing ahead with big projects downtown.

Search giant Google has proposed a transit-oriented neighborhood near the Diridon train station and tech titan Adobe is expanding its downtown headquarters campus with a new office tower.

Separately, multiple developers are pushing ahead with an array of projects, including new offices, homes, restaurants and shops. Jay Paul Co., Urban Catalyst and a venture of Westbank and Urban Community are among the active developers in downtown San Jose.

“The Google village is moving forward, you have a lot of other projects, so you will see significant activity in the downtown,” Anderson said in a previous interview.