84 W Santa Clara St
84 W Santa Clara St is a 11-story building in Downtown San Jose with 92% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 126 homes and scores it 97 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-09-12 · Strong candidate
Where 84 W 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
- 84 W Santa Clara St
This building's conversion pencils at default assumptions without any subsidy.
Every floor carries 1,023 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 10 residential floors that is 10,227 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 84 W Santa Clara St, 2026-09-12.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 97 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 129 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 11 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 12,904 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 92% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 41 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 1,023 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 126 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 129,042 sq ft | $52.3M |
| Gap before grantpencils unsubsidized | -$1.3M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $7.6M |
| 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
40 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 502 ft of exterior wall, and across 10 residential floors the building carries 5,018 ft of it in total, divided among the 126 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.64: 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 12.6 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 84 W Santa Clara St scores 97 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 97, Scale 84, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 84 W Santa Clara St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency92% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 41 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 97 | 25% | 24.3 |
| Scale126 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 84 | 15% | 12.6 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 17% 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 84 out of 100: 126 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 129,042 sq ft of converted floor, or $52.3M in total — about $415K for each of the 126 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 84 W 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 10,227 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 126 homes is $53.5M.
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 $52.3M of work with $1.3M to spare. Value per home would have to fall to $415K — 2% below the assumption — before the conversion stopped penciling, or all-in cost would have to rise from $405 to $415 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 84 W Santa Clara St:
Single-assumption flip points for 84 W Santa Clara St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 15% downto 68% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 17% downto $355K |
| Average unit size | 17% upto 880 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 26% upto $329/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 84 W Santa Clara St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
84 W Santa Clara St ranks 5th of the 82 buildings screened here, against a median score of 64.
Its floor plate is better lit than 85% of them, and shallower than 91% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 64th 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
5th of 72 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
72 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 84 W Santa Clara St ranks 5th 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 41 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: 121 S Market St
The screened building closest to 84 W Santa Clara St in converted floor area is 121 S Market St: 122,443 sq ft over 12 stories, against 129,042 sq ft over 11 here.
84 W Santa Clara St scores 97 to its 88, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 97 out of 100 here, 69 there (deepest interior point 52 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 121 S Market St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant, while 84 W Santa Clara St pencils without a subsidy. The two stand about 800 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 84 W Santa Clara St $7.6M, 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 84 W Santa Clara 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.
- 81 Post St9 stories · 100% daylit · 51 estimated homes · scores 90/100 (Strong candidate)about 170 ft away
- 25 Post St12 stories · 49% daylit · 460 estimated homes · scores 28/100 (Unlikely)about 220 ft away
- 127 Post St20 stories · 62% daylit · 687 estimated homes · scores 35/100 (Marginal)about 260 ft away
- 81 W Santa Clara St6 stories · 100% daylit · 32 estimated homes · scores 88/100 (Strong candidate)about 260 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.