How SJSU Reimagines Housing in the Heart of Silicon Valley

by Marcus Ismael | Dec 4, 2024 | Community Engagement, Featured, Leadership

Conceptual rendering of Campus Village 3, a proposed, future student residence hall on the main campus of San José State University. Design by MultiStudio, 2022.

SJSU meets the urgency of the region’s housing scarcity with bold solutions for students, faculty, staff. Conceptual rendering of Campus Village 3, a future development at the main SJSU campus. Find out more at go.sjsu.edu/CV3.

This story was originally published in the Silicon Valley Business Journal on October 18, 2024.

Now, more than ever, San José State University is the beating heart of downtown’s vibrancy and an anchor institution in Silicon Valley’s workforce pipeline. Our 40,000 students, staff and faculty move about downtown, patronizing restaurants and businesses, working in the offices of our tech titans and City Hall, and both producing and enhancing the arts scene that make San José a robust cultural center.

Yet we know the challenges many of these students and employees face grappling with housing costs in one of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S. To that end, SJSU remains steadfast in pursuing all options that best serve the needs of our community while recognizing our standing as a pillar and steward of downtown.

As our university grows into one of the premier higher education institutions in the country – noted by our recent No. 4 ranking by the Wall Street Journal College Pulse Survey – our physical footprint must expand with our burgeoning impact. SJSU drafted a renewed Campus Master Plan to chart the path for the future. As part of the plan’s goal to rebuild and renew, SJSU plans to house 20% of the full-time equivalent (FTE) student population either on or in the immediate vicinity of campus. To that end, the university has a multi-pronged housing approach.

Spartan Village on the Paseo is San José State’s bold foray into off-campus downtown housing through adaptive reuse of luxury hotel space. Opened in August 2024 to much fanfare. Find out more at go.sjsu.edu/SVP. Pictured L-R: Mari Fuentes-Martin, Vice President for Student Affairs; state assemblymember Ash Kalra; President Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson; San José mayor Matt Mahan; state senator Dave Cortese. Photo by Robert C. Bain.

This August, SJSU formally opened Spartan Village on the Paseo, an ambitious and creative adaptive reuse conversion project of the south tower of the Signia hotel downtown. To see 264 former luxury hotel rooms become housing for nearly 700 student residents is a moment of deep pride for San José State. Replete with on-site dining, fitness, group collaboration spaces and an e-sports gaming lounge, Spartan Village is the university’s first and boldest foray into off-campus redevelopment, all completed within a short span of only nine months. An achievement recognized recently with the SVBJ’s Community Impact award. To date, Spartan Village remains the Bay Area’s largest post-pandemic commercial to residential conversion redevelopment project. Students have settled beautifully into the space and are already reinvigorating the Paseo de San Antonio, downtown’s core pedestrian boulevard, with their presence and energy.

Aerial view of the future SJSU campus as outlined in the latest version of the Campus Master Plan published in 2024. Rendering by Field Paoli.

San José State University’s newest Campus Master Plan implements core goals of Transformation 2030, the university’s strategic plan and will guide physical development and revitalization for the main and south campuses as well as properties throughout Santa Clara County through 2040. View the public draft at go.sjsu.edu/CMP.

The renewed Campus Master Plan, which is set to be formally adopted in spring 2025, also outlines expanded on-campus housing, most notably Campus Village 3 (CV3). CV3 remains in the earliest initial planning stages and will be developed once the CSU has the capacity for large-scale capital projects. CV3 would be a 1,000-bed, 12-story student residence hall to replace the aged Washburn Hall. With a new dining commons and a Welcome Center for visitors and prospective students, CV3 would revitalize the campus’ southern edge as a monumental gateway into Silicon Valley’s public university.

With the completion of Spartan Village, SJSU will pivot back to the years-long effort to reimagine the nearby Alquist site – two blocks east from Spartan Village – from a three-story, underutilized site to a high-rise rental property to house faculty and staff. Legislative efforts from former state senator Jim Beall, current state senator David Cortese and assemblymember Ash Kalra transferred ownership of the site to the CSU in July allowing full entitlement for SJSU to plan new workforce housing. While ongoing challenges in the real estate market – notably skyrocketing construction costs– have stalled forward momentum, SJSU aims to eventually house hundreds of employees and their families in rental apartments, with additional housing for graduate students to be leased on a per-bed basis in a conventional residence hall format.

Aerial view of the Alfred E. Alquist state office building which is the site of the Alquist Redevelopment Project. Find out more at go.sjsu.edu/Alquist.

The Alquist Redevelopment is SJSU’s bold foray into high-rise workforce housing at the site of an underutilized state government office building in downtown San José. Find out more at go.sjsu.edu/Alquist.

Development will take time, robust private-sector partnerships and sizable private and public capital investment will be required to deliver this priority project in coming years. In the interim, growing vibrancy around Alquist provides ample opportunity for short-term, mixed-use activations with local merchants, artists and performances, potentially in the building, on the Paseo and in nearby vacant storefronts. With only 2.7% of San José zoned for multi-family housing, a project of this magnitude, when eventually built, establishes SJSU as a leader in developing an equitable housing market for families and young adults aspiring to call San José home long-term.

While SJSU’s unique geography presents affordability challenges, our region’s promise lies in collaboration and innovation. Leveraging our partnerships, ones we have already established and others to be fostered, is our next horizon. Our regional problems on housing affordability require bold and creative solutions. Together we can pursue possibilities that reinforce SJSU’s standing as the Epicenter of the Future and make life better for those who make Silicon Valley the beautiful place we all call home.

This article is part of the Silicon Valley Business Journal “Elevate” series, focused on positive institutional, corporate and organizational impact in downtown San José. Contributions from Traci Ferdolage, Senior Associate Vice President for Facilities Development and Operations; Michelle Smith McDonald and Marcus Ismael, Marketing and Communications.