125 S Market St
125 S Market St is a 13-story building in Downtown San Jose with 79% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 294 homes and scores it 78 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-10-20 · Strong candidate
Also addressed as 101 Park Center Plaza: San Jose’s address records place both on this one footprint.
Where 125 S Market St is
Its block in Downtown San Jose, drawn from San Jose's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 125 S Market St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 6,227 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 12 residential floors that is 74,719 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 125 S Market St, 2026-10-20.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 78 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom GlobeSt, “BPG buys Park Center Plaza for $170M”, in place of the 206 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 13 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 29,258 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 79% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 57 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 6,227 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 294 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 351,094 sq ft | $142.2M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $17.2M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| 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
35 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 862 ft of exterior wall, and across 12 residential floors the building carries 10,339 ft of it in total, divided among the 294 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.50: 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 24.5 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 125 S Market St scores 78 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 77, Interior depth 58, Scale 100, Finance 92 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 125 S Market St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency79% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 77 | 45% | 34.8 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 57 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 58 | 25% | 14.5 |
| Scale294 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 5% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 92 | 15% | 13.7 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 58 out of 100: deepest interior point 57 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 351,094 sq ft of converted floor, or $142.2M in total — about $484K for each of the 294 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 125 S Market St: 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 74,719 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 294 homes is $125.0M.
What would have to be true
A $17.2M gap before any grant, $7.2M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 6% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $17.2M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 294 homes finishing at $484K rather than the $425K the model assumes — 14% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $356 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $450K a home. That is still above the $425K assumed, leaving $7.2M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 125 S Market St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 125 S Market St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 6% downto 709 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 6% upto $450K |
| Circulation efficiency | 6% upto 85% |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 8% downto $239/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 125 S Market St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
125 S Market St ranks 20th of the 47 buildings screened here, against a median score of 77.
Its floor plate is better lit than 49% of them, and shallower than 60% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 8th 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
19th of 40 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
40 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 125 S Market St ranks 19th of them against a median score of 78. 24 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 59 ft from a facade against this building’s 57 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 8,653 homes. The group’s top scorer is 1 Almaden Blvd, at 100.
Its nearest match in size: 303 Almaden Blvd
The screened building closest to 125 S Market St in converted floor area is 303 Almaden Blvd: 383,836 sq ft over 11 stories, against 351,094 sq ft over 13 here.
125 S Market St scores 78 and 303 Almaden Blvd only 35, and the difference is a hard fail rather than a matter of degree: the lower one is capped at 35 because its deepest interior point is 89 ft from a facade, past the 80 ft threshold beyond which conversion requires carving a light well. On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 1,300 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 125 S Market St $10.0M, 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 125 S Market St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 270 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 121 S Market St9 stories · 89% daylit · 84 estimated homes · scores 84/100 (Strong candidate)about 270 ft away
- 100 W San Fernando St5 stories · 76% daylit · 100 estimated homes · scores 73/100 (Strong candidate)about 350 ft away
- 185 Park Ave8 stories · 69% daylit · 143 estimated homes · scores 57/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 410 ft away
- 104 S Market St3 stories · 86% daylit · 47 estimated homes · scores 76/100 (Strong candidate)about 510 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.