75 E Santa Clara St
75 E Santa Clara St is a 16-story building in Downtown San Jose with 79% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 210 homes and scores it 78 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-09-12 · Strong candidate
Where 75 E Santa Clara St is
Its block in Downtown San Jose, drawn from San Jose's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 75 E Santa Clara St
This building does not pencil at default assumptions, even with a modeled RESIDE Act grant.
Every floor carries 3,393 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 15 residential floors that is 50,894 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 75 E Santa Clara St, 2026-09-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 78 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 192 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 16 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 16,531 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 79% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 60 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 3,393 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 210 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 247,967 sq ft | $100.4M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $11.2M |
| 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 06085501000, 2018 designation | Yes |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
37 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 515 ft of exterior wall, and across 15 residential floors the building carries 7,731 ft of it in total, divided among the 210 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is compact at 0.78: close to a square or a circle, the most efficient envelope an office can have and the least generous one for apartments: little perimeter to divide among homes. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 14.0 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 75 E Santa Clara St scores 78 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 79, Interior depth 49, Scale 100, Finance 98 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 75 E Santa Clara 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% | 79 | 45% | 35.5 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 60 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 49 | 25% | 12.4 |
| Scale210 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financeremaining gap is 1% of conversion cost, scored from 60% down to 0% | 98 | 15% | 14.7 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 49 out of 100: deepest interior point 60 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 247,967 sq ft of converted floor, or $100.4M in total — about $478K for each of the 210 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 75 E Santa Clara 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 50,894 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 210 homes is $89.3M.
What would have to be true
A $11.2M gap before any grant, $1.2M after the modeled one. The smallest single change that would close it: average unit size 1% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $11.2M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 210 homes finishing at $478K rather than the $425K the model assumes — 13% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $360 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $431K a home. That is still above the $425K assumed, leaving $1.2M uncovered, which is why the grant does not unlock this one.
Nor do all four levers have to move. For 75 E Santa Clara St, one alone would close the gap at:
Single-assumption flip points for 75 E Santa Clara St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Average unit sizethe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 1% downto 740 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 1% upto $431K |
| Circulation efficiency | 1% upto 81% |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 2% downto $255/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 75 E Santa Clara St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
75 E Santa Clara St ranks 32nd of the 82 buildings screened here, against a median score of 64.
Its floor plate is better lit than 63% of them, and shallower than 59% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 40th 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
28th of 72 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
72 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 75 E Santa Clara St ranks 28th 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 60 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: 4 N 2nd St
The screened building closest to 75 E Santa Clara St in converted floor area is 4 N 2nd St: 261,114 sq ft over 15 stories, against 247,967 sq ft over 16 here.
75 E Santa Clara St scores 78 to its 71, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from daylight efficiency: 79 out of 100 here, 73 there (76% 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 200 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 75 E Santa Clara 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 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 75 E Santa Clara St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 210 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 4 N 2nd St15 stories · 76% daylit · 212 estimated homes · scores 71/100 (Strong candidate)about 210 ft away
- 52 E Santa Clara St6 stories · 60% daylit · 221 estimated homes · scores 35/100 (Marginal)about 290 ft away
- 50 E St John St5 stories · 74% daylit · 213 estimated homes · scores 68/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 340 ft away
- 15 E Santa Clara St12 stories · 53% daylit · 867 estimated homes · scores 32/100 (Marginal)about 350 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.