Senior affordable homes project in San Jose gets boost from lease deal

SAN JOSE — A San Jose affordable housing development for seniors has taken a significant step forward following a real estate deal to lease the land where the apartments would be built to the project’s developer.

The project, located at 700 East St. John St., would produce 68 units, of which 67 would be set aside as affordable apartments, and one would be a manager’s unit, documents filed this month with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.

The affordable housing residences, known as Trillium Senior Apartments, would be part of a 661-unit project that the Santa Clara County Housing Authority envisions for a site just east of downtown San Jose where a hospital once operated.

The larger overall mixed-use development would sprout on a site bounded by East Santa Clara Street, North 14th Street, East St. John Street and North 15th Street.

All of the apartments in the Trillium complex would be affordable. The Trillium Senior Apartments would emerge at the corner of North 14th and East St. John.

Eden Housing would develop the senior housing, the county documents show. The U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department has agreed to provide funding to help finance 43 of the 68 units.

Santa Clara County leased the land for the Trillium project to an Eden Housing affiliate, the public real estate files show.

The overall development would contain a mix of senior and family housing, ground-floor retail, public open spaces, and bike and pedestrian passages, according to a post on the David Baker Architects website.

The larger project would feature six apartment buildings, documents on file with San Jose city planners show.

“The buildings facing East Santa Clara Street have ground-floor retail and face a public plaza,” David Baker Architects stated on its site. “There will also be a bike and pedestrian paseo that crosses the site, connecting East Saint John Street to East Santa Clara Street.”