1 Almaden Blvd
1 Almaden Blvd is a 12-story building in Downtown San Jose with 94% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 149 homes and scores it 100 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-10-20 · Strong candidate
Where 1 Almaden Blvd is
Its block in Downtown San Jose, drawn from San Jose's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 1 Almaden Blvd
This building's conversion pencils at default assumptions without any subsidy.
Every floor carries 766 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 11 residential floors that is 8,431 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 1 Almaden Blvd, 2026-10-20.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 100 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom OpenStreetMap, “Almaden Financial Plaza, way 39018266”, in place of the 176 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 12 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 13,525 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 94% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 40 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 766 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 149 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 148,774 sq ft | $60.3M |
| Gap before grantpencils unsubsidized | -$3.1M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $8.9M |
| BuiltSan Jose does not publish a construction year with this data | — |
| ZoningDowntown San Jose | DC |
| Opportunity Zonecensus tract 06085500800, 2018 designation | Yes |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
38 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 518 ft of exterior wall, and across 11 residential floors the building carries 5,703 ft of it in total, divided among the 149 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.63: a squarish plan, with enough perimeter for a conventional double-loaded corridor. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 13.5 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 1 Almaden Blvd scores 100 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 100, Scale 99, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 1 Almaden Blvd. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency94% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 40 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 100 | 25% | 25.0 |
| Scale149 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 99 | 15% | 14.9 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 20% to spare, which tops out the component | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
Every component scores at or near full marks, so nothing in the geometry or the pro-forma is holding this one back — daylight efficiency carries the most weight of the four.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 148,774 sq ft of converted floor, or $60.3M in total — about $404K for each of the 149 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 1 Almaden Blvd: base cost plus the code work a change of use triggers.
| Base conversion cost | $260/sq ft |
|---|---|
| Seismic retrofit (change of use) | $45/sq ft |
| Plumbing risers to every unit | $40/sq ft |
| Operable windows and glazing | $30/sq ft |
| Additional egress stair | $18/sq ft |
| Fire sprinklers (NFPA 13R) | $12/sq ft |
| All-in | $405/sq ft |
That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 8,431 sq ft of windowless core, which has to be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered like the rest of the building and then earns nothing. Against it the model sets a completed value of $425K a home, which for 149 homes is $63.3M.
What would have to be true
This one already clears the bar. The question is how much room it has before it stops.
At $425K a home, completed value covers the $60.3M of work with $3.1M to spare. Value per home would have to fall to $404K — 5% below the assumption — before the conversion stopped penciling, or all-in cost would have to rise from $405 to $426 per square foot. Neither is a wide margin in a market that moves, but this building does not need a grant to work.
Each of these, moved on its own, would be enough to undo that for 1 Almaden Blvd:
Single-assumption flip points for 1 Almaden Blvd, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 16% downto 67% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 19% downto $344K |
| Average unit size | 20% upto 898 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 31% upto $341/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 1 Almaden Blvd re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
1 Almaden Blvd ranks 1st of the 47 buildings screened here, against a median score of 77.
Its floor plate is better lit than 85% of them, and shallower than 87% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 27th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 47 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.
Within the DC zone
1st of 40 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
40 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 1 Almaden Blvd ranks 1st of them against a median score of 78, the top score in the group. 24 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 59 ft from a facade against this building’s 40 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 8,653 homes.
Its nearest match in size: 233 W Santa Clara St
The screened building closest to 1 Almaden Blvd in converted floor area is 233 W Santa Clara St: 140,510 sq ft over 10 stories, against 148,774 sq ft over 12 here.
1 Almaden Blvd scores 100 to its 81, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 100 out of 100 here, 56 there (deepest interior point 58 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 233 W Santa Clara St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant, while 1 Almaden Blvd pencils without a subsidy. The two stand about 300 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 1 Almaden Blvd $8.9M, on the assumption it qualifies. Whether it does, no published dataset can say.
That figure assumes the building meets the Act’s vacant-and-abandoned test, which turns on code-enforcement and receivership records no city publishes.
This building does sit in census tract 06085500800, a 2018 designated Opportunity Zone, which Section 201 lets HUD favor — one of the few statutory priorities this screen can actually check.
Other buildings screened near 1 Almaden Blvd
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 240 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 55 Almaden Blvd8 stories · 94% daylit · 125 estimated homes · scores 97/100 (Strong candidate)about 240 ft away
- 350 W Santa Clara St7 stories · 96% daylit · 115 estimated homes · scores 94/100 (Strong candidate)about 260 ft away
- 333 W Santa Clara St11 stories · 70% daylit · 218 estimated homes · scores 63/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 290 ft away
- 233 W Santa Clara St10 stories · 84% daylit · 126 estimated homes · scores 81/100 (Strong candidate)about 350 ft away
A screen, not a feasibility study, from outlines and heights rather than plans: the method and how to correct a figure. If you know this building’s interior, you know what this model cannot see.