188 W St James St
188 W St James St is a 20-story building in Downtown San Jose with 47% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 640 homes and scores it 25 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-09-12 · Unlikely
Where 188 W St James St is
Its block in Downtown San Jose, drawn from San Jose's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 188 W St James St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 35,742 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 19 residential floors that is 679,092 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Part of this building is already homes. San Jose's rental housing and condominium records list 304 condominiums 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.
Modeled conversion metrics for 188 W St James St, 2026-09-12.
| Suitability scoreUnlikely | 25 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 234 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 20 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 67,330 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 47% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 120 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 35,742 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 640 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 1,279,266 sq ft | $518.1M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $246.1M |
| 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
33 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 1,098 ft of exterior wall, and across 19 residential floors the building carries 20,863 ft of it in total, divided among the 640 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.70: 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 33.7 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 188 W St James St scores 25 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 14, Interior depth 0, Scale 100, Finance 24 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 188 W St James St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency47% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 14 | 45% | 6.2 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 120 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 0 | 25% | 0.0 |
| Scale640 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 46% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 24 | 15% | 3.6 |
Most of what it earns comes from scale, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 0 out of 100: deepest interior point 120 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 1,279,266 sq ft of converted floor, or $518.1M in total — about $810K for each of the 640 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 188 W St James 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 679,092 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 640 homes is $272.0M.
What would have to be true
A $246.1M gap before any grant, $236.1M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 46% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $246.1M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 640 homes finishing at $810K rather than the $425K the model assumes — 90% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $213 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $794K a home. That is still above the $425K assumed, leaving $236.1M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 188 W St James St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 188 W St James St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 46% downto 401 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Conversion cost per square foot | 71% downto $75/sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 87% upto $794K |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 188 W St James St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
188 W St James St ranks 78th of the 82 buildings screened here, against a median score of 64.
Its floor plate is better lit than 6% of them, and shallower than 5% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 12th 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
68th of 72 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
72 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 188 W St James St ranks 68th 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 120 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: 488 Almaden Blvd
The screened building closest to 188 W St James St in converted floor area is 488 Almaden Blvd: 1,253,862 sq ft over 23 stories, against 1,279,266 sq ft over 20 here.
188 W St James St scores 25 to its 31, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from daylight efficiency: 14 out of 100 here, 25 there (52% 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 4,100 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 188 W St James 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 188 W St James St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 350 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 111 N Market St12 stories · 81% daylit · 185 estimated homes · scores 85/100 (Strong candidate)about 350 ft away
- 111 W St John St14 stories · 92% daylit · 199 estimated homes · scores 98/100 (Strong candidate)about 360 ft away
- 255 W Julian St8 stories · 92% daylit · 79 estimated homes · scores 92/100 (Strong candidate)about 440 ft away
- 192 W St John St18 stories · 54% daylit · already a condominium buildingabout 540 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.