172 S Market St
172 S Market St is a 14-story building in Downtown San Jose with 81% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 575 homes and scores it 75 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-09-12 · Strong candidate
Also addressed as 184 S Market St, 200 S Market St and 240 S Market St: San Jose’s address records place all 4 on this one footprint.
Where 172 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
- 172 S Market St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 9,701 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 13 residential floors that is 126,118 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Part of this building is already homes. San Jose's rental housing and condominium records list 165 apartments here, fewer than half the homes this model estimates the building could hold. The figures here treat the whole building as convertible, so read them as an upper bound and check which floors are already housing.
Read with caution. This footprint carries 4 street addresses across 51,168 sq ft, which usually means the city’s GIS has merged a block or complex into a single polygon rather than describing one convertible building.
Modeled conversion metrics for 172 S Market St, 2026-09-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 75 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 165 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 14 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 51,168 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 81% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 65 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 9,701 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 575 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 665,189 sq ft | $269.4M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $25.0M |
| 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
36 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 1,586 ft of exterior wall, and across 13 residential floors the building carries 20,613 ft of it in total, divided among the 575 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is elongated at 0.26: a slab or an L, which is why so much of the floor lies within reach of a window: the outline buys daylight that a square plan of the same area would not. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 44.2 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 172 S Market St scores 75 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 82, Interior depth 38, Scale 100, Finance 91 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 172 S Market St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency81% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 82 | 45% | 36.9 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 65 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 38 | 25% | 9.6 |
| Scale575 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 6% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 91 | 15% | 13.6 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 38 out of 100: deepest interior point 65 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 665,189 sq ft of converted floor, or $269.4M in total — about $469K for each of the 575 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 172 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 126,118 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 575 homes is $244.4M.
What would have to be true
A $25.0M gap before any grant, $15.0M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 6% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $25.0M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 575 homes finishing at $469K rather than the $425K the model assumes — 10% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $367 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $451K a home. That is still above the $425K assumed, leaving $15.0M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 172 S Market St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 172 S Market St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 6% downto 706 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 6% upto $451K |
| Circulation efficiency | 6% upto 85% |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 9% downto $237/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 172 S Market St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
172 S Market St ranks 35th of the 82 buildings screened here, against a median score of 64.
Its floor plate is better lit than 65% of them, and shallower than 51% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 15th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 82 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.
Within the DC zone
30th of 72 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
72 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 172 S Market St ranks 30th of them against a median score of 61. 31 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 68 ft from a facade against this building’s 65 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 23,276 homes. The group’s top scorer is 1 Almaden Blvd, at 100.
Its nearest match in size: 30 Post St
The screened building closest to 172 S Market St in converted floor area is 30 Post St: 653,312 sq ft over 17 stories, against 665,189 sq ft over 14 here.
172 S Market St scores 75 to its 51, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from daylight efficiency: 82 out of 100 here, 46 there (63% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90%). On the money they sit in the same place: each falls short even with the modeled grant. The two stand about 1,100 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 172 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 172 S Market St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 170 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 200 S Market St5 stories · 79% daylit · 57 estimated homes · scores 69/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 170 ft away
- 170 S Market St20 stories · 43% daylit · 797 estimated homes · scores 20/100 (Unlikely)about 320 ft away
- 210 S 1st St7 stories · 62% daylit · 166 estimated homes · scores 50/100 (Marginal)about 400 ft away
- 94 E San Carlos St8 stories · 52% daylit · 261 estimated homes · scores 31/100 (Marginal)about 470 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.