A developer wants to bulldoze an office building to build 118 apartments in the first large multifamily development in San Jose in two years.
An affiliate of locally based Msasa Properties led by Mostafa Aghamiri was approved by the San Jose City Council to demolish a two-story, 12,000-square-foot office building at 380 North First Street, in Hensley, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.
The affiliate, 380 N 1st Street QOZB LLC, has filed plans to build a 119,000-square-foot apartment complex in its place. Aghamiri’s Msasa Properties filed plans in September 2023 to build the seven-story complex near San Jose’s Japantown.
With developers having built no market-rate projects larger than 20 units in the city last year, Aghamiri’s project appears to be the first large-scale multifamily development since 2023, in which 336 units were built.
Plans call for 118 apartments on a half-acre north of Basset Street between North First and North Second streets, with six set aside as affordable for very low-income households. Parking would be available for 74 cars.
Initial plans by Aghamiri included 18 affordable units, or 15 percent, but he cut it to 5 percent to make the project pencil out, according to Erik Schoennauer, a local land use consultant who spoke on behalf of the developer.
The project, designed by Oakland-based Studio T-Square, features a charcoal and white complex with balconies, according to a rendering, bookended by a brown brick sections.
The site is located in an opportunity zone, which offers tax advantages to developers.
Aghamiri bought the office property in 2022 for $5.3 million, or $442 per square foot.
The 61-year-old offices have been vacant for 10 months, and have been damaged by vandals, Schoennauer said. They’ve been 60 percent vacant for more than five years
He said Aghamiri hopes to break ground this summer, and complete the project in 20 to 24 months.
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