38 N Almaden Blvd
38 N Almaden Blvd is a 19-story building in Downtown San Jose with 56% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 479 homes and scores it 35 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-09-12 · Marginal
Where 38 N Almaden Blvd is
Its block in Downtown San Jose, drawn from San Jose's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 38 N Almaden Blvd
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 19,465 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 18 residential floors that is 350,368 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Part of this building is already homes. San Jose's rental housing and condominium records list 97 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 38 N Almaden Blvd, 2026-09-12.
| Suitability scoreMarginal | 35 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 233 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 19 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 44,463 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 56% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 103 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 19,465 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 479 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 800,341 sq ft | $324.1M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $120.6M |
| 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 885 ft of exterior wall, and across 18 residential floors the building carries 15,936 ft of it in total, divided among the 479 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.71: 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 26.6 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 38 N Almaden Blvd scores 35 out of 100
The weighted components add to 36, but the score is capped at 35 because its deepest interior point is 103 ft from a facade, past the 80 ft threshold beyond which conversion requires carving a light well.
Score components for 38 N Almaden Blvd. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency56% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 32 | 45% | 14.6 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 103 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 0 | 25% | 0.0 |
| Scale479 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 34% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 43 | 15% | 6.5 |
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 103 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 800,341 sq ft of converted floor, or $324.1M in total — about $677K for each of the 479 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 38 N 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 350,368 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 479 homes is $203.6M.
What would have to be true
A $120.6M gap before any grant, $110.6M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 35% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $120.6M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 479 homes finishing at $677K rather than the $425K the model assumes — 59% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $254 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $656K a home. That is still above the $425K assumed, leaving $110.6M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 38 N Almaden Blvd, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 38 N Almaden Blvd, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 35% downto 486 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Conversion cost per square foot | 53% downto $122/sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 54% upto $656K |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 38 N Almaden Blvd re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
38 N Almaden Blvd ranks 59th of the 82 buildings screened here, against a median score of 64.
Its floor plate is better lit than 20% of them, and shallower than 16% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 18th 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
50th of 72 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
72 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 38 N Almaden Blvd ranks 50th 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 103 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 E Santa Clara St
The screened building closest to 38 N Almaden Blvd in converted floor area is 30 E Santa Clara St: 687,479 sq ft over 20 stories, against 800,341 sq ft over 19 here.
30 E Santa Clara St scores 58 and 38 N 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 103 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 1,700 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 38 N Almaden Blvd $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 38 N Almaden Blvd
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 200 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 233 W Santa Clara St10 stories · 84% daylit · 126 estimated homes · scores 81/100 (Strong candidate)about 200 ft away
- 333 W Santa Clara St14 stories · 55% daylit · 572 estimated homes · scores 35/100 (Marginal)about 280 ft away
- 225 W Santa Clara St18 stories · 51% daylit · 625 estimated homes · scores 29/100 (Unlikely)about 290 ft away
- 192 W St John St18 stories · 54% daylit · already a condominium buildingabout 420 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.