43 E St James St
43 E St James St is a 5-story building in Downtown San Jose with 100% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 25 homes and scores it 88 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-09-12 · Strong candidate
Where 43 E 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
- 43 E St James St
This building's conversion pencils at default assumptions without any subsidy.
This footprint has no windowless core at all: every point on the floor plate is within 35 ft of a facade, which is unusual and is the main reason it scores as well as it does.
Modeled conversion metrics for 43 E St James St, 2026-09-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 88 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 62 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 5 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 6,010 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 100% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 31 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 0 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 25 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 24,042 sq ft | $9.7M |
| Gap before grantpencils unsubsidized | -$888K |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $1.5M |
| BuiltSan Jose does not publish a construction year with this data | — |
| ZoningDowntown San Jose | DC |
| Opportunity Zonecensus tract 06085501000, 2018 designation | Yes |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
73 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 458 ft of exterior wall, and across 4 residential floors the building carries 1,831 ft of it in total, divided among the 25 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is elongated at 0.36: 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 6.3 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 43 E St James St scores 88 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 100, Scale 17, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 43 E St James St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency100% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 31 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 100 | 25% | 25.0 |
| Scale25 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 17 | 15% | 2.5 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 25% to spare, which tops out the component | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is scale, at 17 out of 100: 25 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 24,042 sq ft of converted floor, or $9.7M in total — about $389K for each of the 25 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 43 E 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 circulation and service area that earns nothing directly. Against it the model sets a completed value of $425K a home, which for 25 homes is $10.6M.
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 $9.7M of work with $888K to spare. Value per home would have to fall to $389K — 8% below the assumption — before the conversion stopped penciling, or all-in cost would have to rise from $405 to $442 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 43 E St James St:
Single-assumption flip points for 43 E St James St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 18% downto 66% |
|---|---|
| Average unit size | 22% upto 916 sq ft |
| Completed value per home | 22% downto $329K |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 38% upto $359/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 43 E St James St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
43 E St James St ranks 18th of the 82 buildings screened here, against a median score of 64.
Its floor plate is better lit than 100% of them, and shallower than 95% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 82nd 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
15th of 72 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
72 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 43 E St James St ranks 15th 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 31 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: 630 S 1st St
The screened building closest to 43 E St James St in converted floor area is 630 S 1st St: 30,904 sq ft over 5 stories, against 24,042 sq ft over 5 here.
The two land within a few points of each other — 88 here, 88 there — so at this size the screen reads them as much the same prospect. On the money they sit in the same place: each pencils without a subsidy. The two stand about 5,400 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 43 E St James St $1.5M, 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 06085501000, 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 43 E St James St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 420 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 97 E St James St5 stories · 90% daylit · already a condominium buildingabout 420 ft away
- 50 E Julian St6 stories · 87% daylit · already an apartment buildingabout 450 ft away
- 201 N 1st St13 stories · 69% daylit · 356 estimated homes · scores 53/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 520 ft away
- 45 Devine St6 stories · 52% daylit · already a condominium buildingabout 570 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.