Condos Planned for San Jose School, Baseball Fields

A Southern California developer is looking to build residences on a school site in the Bay Area.

Carlsbad-based Mana Investments, acting through an affiliate, has filed plans to build 108 condominium units on Little League fields at 5670 Camden Avenue, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported, citing city documents. The San Jose Planning Commission is set to review the site development permit, environmental impact report and vesting tentative map at its meeting on Wednesday.

Mana’s proposal calls for 108 condo units across 32 three-story buildings. The Union School District owns the project site which currently houses a school, construction yard and the baseball fields in question. Construction for Mana’s residences would require the demolition of three buildings associated with the Little League fields. The residential project would take up roughly 7 acres of the nearly 11-acre site and not require demolition of the school facilities and construction yard.

Beacon School, which serves special education students, is currently using the school facilities there. Cinnabar Elementary School once occupied the property, according to city documents cited by the Business Journal. Single-family homes, apartments and a power substation surround the future development location.

The Mana Investments affiliate submitted its initial plans for the site in 2023. The project is subject to builder’s remedy, which prohibits cities from denying housing development proposals that dedicate a certain portion of the residences to low-income tenants. It is unclear how many of the Camden Avenue condos will be set aside for affordable housing.

The San Jose City Council will consider the project for approval next month if the Planning Commission signs off on Mana Investments’ proposal this week.

The Bay Area’s five main counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara have 7,600 acres of school land, including vacant lots, that could be turned into housing, according to a 2022 study from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; and the California School Boards Association.

Santa Clara County, home to San Jose, has 3,084 acres, followed by Contra Costa’s 2,209 acres and Alameda’s 1,367 acres. San Jose’s housing element requires planning for 62,200 units by 2031.

— Chris Malone Méndez