Business and city leaders are touting the recently opened 23-story apartment building as a major victory in the effort to bring more people to downtown San Jose.
Representatives from Boston-based development company Moro, leaders of the San Jose Downtown Association and Mayor Matt Mahan celebrated the opening of The Fay at 10 E. Reed St. earlier this month. Fay is a 336-unit high-rise complex sold as luxury apartments. City officials have approved about $10 million in tax breaks for the project, which Mahan said will encourage developers to invest in downtown San Jose.
Mr Mahan said outside The Fay: “If we get investment, we get housing, we get residents, we get vibrancy, in the long run we expand the pie, we get more economic activity, we fund services. Please know that we will have the income to provide you with this.” “I want to thank my colleagues in Congress for not only extending but deepening the downtown high-rise fee waiver program.”
Russell Hancock, president and CEO of the economic research group Joint Venture Silicon Valley, said the city’s fee waiver program is a good strategy to attract more development downtown.
“People often refer to San Francisco as the crown jewel of the Bay Area with its expansive views and great properties. I think San Jose felt it was in its shadow, but something happened. ,” Hancock told San Jose Spotlight. “People have discovered San Jose. They are serious people, investors, developers, and cutting-edge architects.”
He said many developers see San Jose’s potential as a blank canvas that hasn’t been fully realized yet.
Curtis Wood, Moro’s vice president of construction, said Mahan toured The Fay about six times and told developers his vision for downtown revitalization. In November, Mahan and City Council members Deb Davis and Pam Foley proposed an “Innovative Project Pathway Program” aimed at creating a streamlined approach to development in the downtown core. .
Wood said they were not local developers in the traditional sense, but became that way after years of working with city officials and gaining support from downtown supporters.
“We basically took this previously underutilized corner and turned it into something with a bright, vibrant lobby. It’s an inviting building and makes this area a little bit more comfortable and safe to walk in. I hope it becomes,” he told San Jose Spotlight. “Ultimately, we’re going to bring someone into the retail space at the corner of First and Reed streets. Our goal is to really revitalize that corner and revitalize the neighborhood.”
Studio apartments at The Fay start at $2,750, one-bedroom, one-bath apartments range from $2,880 to $3,530 for spacious one-bedroom apartments, and two-bedroom, two-bath apartments start at $4,330 and up. Apartments range in size from approximately 400 square feet to just over 900 square feet.
“The apartments have a European design with Italian cabinetry and custom furniture in one quarter of the building,” Wood said.
The property previously shared space with the historic Palacene Apartments building, which was originally scheduled to be demolished in 2021 to make room for The Fay.
Downtown residents and the San Jose Preservation Action Council successfully rallied to save the building, which was relocated to the corner of Fourth and Reed streets for a yet-to-be-completed affordable housing project.
Preservation Action Council President Ben Leach said he was pleased to hear the project was a success and would be home to new residents, but looked forward to the opening of affordable housing at Paresen Apartments. .
“We’re not against high-rise apartments or even luxury housing, but not every site downtown should be considered development land. That’s the idea we’re against,” he said. told San Jose Spotlight. “Downtowns need a variety of buildings. If we treat every two-story historic building as obsolete because it can’t be a 20-story building, we’re going to have a lot of smaller buildings that contribute just as much.” You end up missing out on assets.”
Alex Stettinski, CEO of the Downtown Association, said that while downtown needs more residents, it also needs more market-rate housing communities, and high-rise apartments create more housing. He said that the space can be used effectively.
“Every time you add (housing) downtown, you increase the vibrancy and foot traffic in each area, which is a really, really good thing,” he told San Jose Spotlight. “Currently, we have a huge number of visitors coming for nightlife… However, during the day on weekdays, there are still a lot of vacancies in offices, so many visitors The number is still quite low. So the added housing component will make a big difference to small businesses as well as new businesses.”
Contact Vicente Vera at (email protected) or follow @VicenteJVera on X (formerly Twitter).
