New housing tower gets under construction in downtown San Jose

Construction site of Garden Gate Tower, a 336-unit housing highrise at 600 S. First St. in downtown San Jose.

SAN JOSE — Construction is underway on a 23-story housing tower that would bring more than 300 residential units to downtown San Jose.

Garden Gate Tower is being built at 600 S. First St. in downtown’s hip and trendy SoFA district, near Interstate 280.

Boston-based Scape North America, a developer that is a unit of London-based real estate firm Scape, is building 336 units in the tower, including 28 affordable residential units.

This week, construction equipment and workers were visible on the development site at the corner of South First Street and East Reed Street.

Workers and construction machinery at the project site of Garden Gate Tower, a housing highrise totaling 336 units at 600 S. First St. in downtown San Jose’s SoFA district.

Workers and their machinery appeared to be engaged primarily in excavation work on the site this week. Scape hasn’t disclosed a timeline for the completion of the project.

“The Scape project breaking ground shows that residential development is possible” in this area, said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy. “The fact that they included affordable units makes it even a greater achievement.”

The new tower is poised to help create more vitality in this section of downtown San Jose. The SoFA district consists primarily of restaurants, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, entertainment hubs and live-performance theaters.

“The SoFA district is proving itself to be a downtown area able to obtain financing,” Staedler said.

In the fall of 2021, Scape North America landed up to $182 million in construction financing from New York City-based Madison Realty Capital, a private equity fund, according to documents filed with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.

Steel beams and construction equipment at the development site of Garden Gate Tower, a 336-unit housing highrise at 600 S. First St. in downtown San Jose’s SoFA district.

Initially, Scape had planned to develop 290 units in the tower. But during the planning process, the developer decided to build 336 residences.

“The development of the project would contribute a modern, high-quality urban design to the downtown,” according to a San Jose Planning Department staff report.

The tower’s ground floor is slated to include 5,900 square feet of retail or restaurant space. An underground parking garage will also be part of the project.