Westbank Approved for 768-Unit Housing Towers in San Jose

The city of San Jose has given the green light to the development of two twin housing towers in the heart of downtown.

City planning administrators approved a proposal from Westbank to build two towers at 35 South Second Street for a total of 768 residential units, the Mercury News reported. The location is currently home to a parking lot.

One tower will rise 28 stories and the other will be 27 stories tall. The two-tower housing project will also have 10,700 square feet of ground-floor retail, 26,100 square feet of space for residential lobbies and amenities and four levels of underground parking. The residences will include landscaped balconies and alternating outdoor rooms and balconies. Rooftop terraces are also part of Westbank’s vision for the buildings.

The approval answers a yearslong question about what Westbank would ultimately end up building on the site. In 2021, the Vancouver-based Westbank proposed building a single 750,000-square-foot curving tower with 368,000 square feet of office space on 10 floors and 194 residences on another 10 floors.

It’s not the first project in downtown San Jose where Westbank has pivoted from offices to housing as demand for office space lags.

In August, the firm submitted revised plans for 391 housing units next to a data center at 180 Park Avenue as part of Westbank’s Park Habitat development.

In October 2024, Westbank unveiled its proposal for three 30-story housing towers with 1,147 units at 300 South First Street and 345 South Second Street. A few months before that, Westbank swapped out an approved plan for a 14-story office building at 255 West Julian Street in downtown San Jose for an 18-story residential tower.

Westbank is also in development on a 17-story apartment highrise at 23 Terraine Street in downtown San Jose. That proposal calls for an apartment tower on 1.6 acres with 12,000 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants as well as a nine-story parking garage for 621 vehicles.

— Chris Malone Méndez