Housing tower plan doubles homes at San Jose site

SAN JOSE >> Hundreds of homes, including dozens of affordable residences, would be built at a downtown San Jose site under an updated plan that would double the number of units in the project.

Eterna Tower is the name of the new housing highrise that would sprout on East Santa Clara Street between First Street and Second Street and include 200 homes, twice as many as the original proposal for 96 units.

The residential tower would be 26 stories high, the same as the original proposal for the property.

Located at 17 through 31 E. Santa Clara St., the project would demolish two small buildings, including the site of a boarded-up former adult sex shop that was gutted by an arson fire in 2019.

Project developer Roygbiv Real Estate Development and project designer Anderson Architects believe opportunities abound for a new housing tower in downtown San Jose.

Search giant Google has proposed a transit-oriented neighborhood near the Diridon train station, tech titan Adobe is expanding its downtown headquarters campus with a new office tower and multiple developers such as Jay Paul Co., a Westbank-Urban Community venture, and Urban Catalyst are moving forward with office or residential projects.

Plus, the new project would sprout next to one of the anticipated entrances for a BART station in downtown San Jose, which could heighten the Eterna Tower’s appeal.

“The Google village is moving forward, you have a lot of other projects, so you will see significant activity in the downtown,” said Kurt Anderson, a principal executive with Campbellbased Anderson Architects.

Roygbiv Real Estate Development in February 2020 paid $3.4 million to purchase the property at 17 through 25 E. Santa Clara, which turned out to be one of two sites needed to develop the project.

“The developer is in contract to buy the 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.

Concepts of Eterna Tower on file with city planners show that the residential project could be a striking addition to the San Jose skyline. The highrise would be significantly taller than other buildings in the immediate vicinity.

“We really wanted this to be a very iconic building, a real show-stopper,” Anderson said in a previous interview.