Developer plans a 20-story tower to house SJSU students

Just days after San Jose State University announced plans to build new housing downtown for people who work and study at the school, another developer is proposing a 20-story tower near campus to hold hundreds more students.

Urban Catalyst recently purchased a squat, aging apartment complex at 475 S. Fourth Street just steps from the university for $6.25 million and plans to build at least 220 apartments with about 800 beds on the site.

Urban Catalyst also obtained a $2.7 million financing loan from San Jose-based Cavallino Fund.

“We are developing a student housing tower,” said Erik Hayden, managing partner at Urban Catalyst.

Urban Catalyst still needs approval from the city to move forward with the project, which would tower over surrounding buildings.

But Mayor Sam Liccardo and other local officials have called not only for more housing recently, but more housing for students specifically. And they’ve called for more density downtown.

“With the zoning that the city has put into place in downtown San Jose, that really reduces the risk in a project,” Hayden said. “We think that the project will really tie together San Jose State University with the rest of the downtown.”

Liccardo said Feb. 4 that the location makes sense.

“The only way we’ll tackle this housing crisis will be by redeveloping existing low-density sites in places like the downtown core, and building developments that can accommodate hundreds of residents, including students,” Liccardo said. “We need to think differently about the scale of our city. We don’t want to be building 20-story buildings in our single-family neighborhoods, and in a city that is largely built out, that means that we have to take advantage of those limited opportunities in our downtown core to build the density that will provide for a more vibrant downtown and address the housing crisis that will vex us for many years to come.”

The proposal comes shortly after the university said it would construct 800 to 1,200 apartments for faculty, staff, graduate students and students with families on the site of the state-owned Alquist Building on Paseo de San Antonio.

“We look forward to having discussions with Urban Catalyst and appreciate their recognition that residence life is an intricate component of student housing that needs to be incorporated into a building from the very beginning of the design process,” Charlie Faas, the university’s vice president for administration and finance, said in a statement

A California State University survey found that about 4,000 SJSU students had experienced homelessness recently.

As Bay Area housing costs have climbed, student groups like the Student Homeless Alliance have called for more affordable and emergency housing on and around the school.

The university is developing new on-campus housing, but even when students can afford the dorms, there hasn’t always been enough space.

Several years ago, the school notified nearly 120 freshman who were — according to the university’s own rules — technically required to live on campus that there wasn’t enough space.

In 2011, the school put some students into a hotel temporarily.

“We would love to partner with San Jose State on this project,” Hayden said. “We haven’t had discussions with the university yet.”

Urban Catalyst also hasn’t set how much the units will cost to rent.

, and Louis Chicoine, CEO of Abode Services, which works to place homeless people into housing, is concerned the apartments will be too expensive for many students.

“Another luxury apartment building, even if it’s for students, will not help,” Chicoine said. “We need extremely low-income housing for students.”

The $6.25 million transaction by Urban Catalyst underscores the surge in downtown San Jose property values, which underpin rental rates in the area, both residential and commercial.

The parcels Urban Catalyst bought from Walter Harding were assessed at about $1.1 million, county records show.

It’s not the first time that a private developer has proposed housing aimed at SJSU students.

A few years ago, AMCAL Swenson began developing a new 1,039-bed complex called The Grad steps from the university.