Downtown San Jose residential tower launch arrives days after mayor touts housing plan

Artist's rendering of The Grad San Jose apartment building with courtyard view

SAN JOSE — October 5, 2017 — The Graduate, a new residential tower geared towards students in downtown San Jose, is poised to be a fresh development venture that can help combat the Bay Area housing crisis.

Developers say The Graduate, an L-shaped project being built at 300 S. 2nd St., is a 260-room high rise a block from the edge of San Jose State University.

The project is a joint venture of San Jose-based Swenson, a realty development and investment firm, and Los Angeles-based Amcal Equities, a long-time residential developer.

“The Graduate will serve as a significant bridge between campus and the SoFA District as well as the surrounding urban amenities of downtown,” said Case Swenson, president of Swenson.

San Jose’s SoFA District is the downtown’s principal arts and entertainment area and stretches along three blocks of South First Street between San Carlos and Reed streets. The new project is between the university campus and the SoFA neighborhood.

This story originally appeared in The Mercury News. Visit that news site to read more.

A Lack Of Affordable Student Housing Is Having Severe Impacts On The Bay Area, Experts Say

Percy Vaz at Bisnow student housing conference with two other participants

The Bay Area’s affordability crisis is not just hitting low-income and middle-class families. Local universities are struggling with ways to provide affordable housing for students, teachers and staff. Without affordable housing, students are less likely to succeed at these schools and universities cannot recruit and retain talented faculty and staff.

“We are getting our asses kicked by New York. We pretty much accept the top art students in the world, and we lose them to Pratt in Brooklyn because they have housing,” California College of the Arts Director of Research and Planning David Meckel said. “The California Conservatory of Music has the same problem. They just lose them to Julliard.”

Meckel, along with developers, consultants, designers and other education administrators, discussed the challenges and impacts associated with a lack of affordable student housing during Bisnow’s NorCal Student Housing & Development event Wednesday.

Multi-Housing News “AMCAL Breaks Ground on Sacramento Student Housing”

Artist's rendering of The Crossings leasing center

By Jeffrey Steele

The 225-unit development is scheduled for completion in August of next year.
Sacramento, Calif.—AMCAL Equities LLC has closed financing and launched construction on a new student housing community serving California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) students. The 225-unit development is scheduled for completion in August of next year. Located just one-fifth of a mile from the university, it will deliver 750 beds, state-of-the-art amenities and pedestrian-friendly nearness to the CSUS campus.

The $75 million project on 9.2 acres has been funded by Agoura Hills, Calif.-based AMCAL, which used $22.5 million in equity investment funding from Irvine-based Anchor Real Estate Capital and a $50 million JPMorgan Chase construction loan.

“We believe there is adequate demand in the marketplace for a new student housing development with our building design, unit types, location and amenities,” AMCAL director of market rate and student housing Stephen Clarke told MHN.

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