Affordable housing project aims to bring 99 units to San Jose

A developer who wants to build affordable housing in San Jose is a step closer to making that plan a reality.

Resources for Community Development, based in Berkeley, bought a 0.6-acre lot at the corner of Almaden Avenue and Virginia Street in Washington-Guadalupe to build a complex with 99 affordable homes, the Mercury News reported.

The firm, which aims to create and preserve affordable housing for people with the fewest options, paid just under $3.6 million, via an affiliate, for the five parcels of land at 797 Almaden Avenue. Resources for Community Development said the project will rise six stories and include ground-level commercial space.

Almaden Affordable Housing, which obtained the property for the developer, got a $6.3 million loan from Supportive Housing Solutions at the same time the property was purchased.

The El Grullo Taqueria y Mariscos Mexican restaurant that stands on the site will be replaced with a variety of affordable residential units. The apartments would consist of 25 permanent supportive housing units, 41 extremely low-income residential units and 32 low-income residential ones.

They will be divided into 30 studios, 24 one-bedrooms, 25 two-bedrooms and 20 three-bedrooms. The ground floor will include office space for supportive housing staff and additional offices for the building’s property manager. Amenities include a community room, lobby, reception desk and mail area.

Another affordable housing complex being developed in San Jose broke ground in August. That one will yield 93 units for chronically homeless seniors, replacing an historic market at 1020 Fourth Street, just north of Japantown.

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