96 N 3rd St
96 N 3rd St is a 6-story building in Downtown San Jose with 86% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 57 homes and scores it 78 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
CA-18 · Screened 2026-10-20 · Strong candidate
Where 96 N 3rd St is
Its block in Downtown San Jose, drawn from San Jose's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 96 N 3rd St
This building does not pencil on its own, but a modeled RESIDE Act grant would close the gap if the building qualified for one.
Every floor carries 1,816 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, seismically braced and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 5 residential floors that is 9,082 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 96 N 3rd St, 2026-10-20.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 78 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom OpenStreetMap, “Building, way 34852491”, in place of the 103 ft LiDAR height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 6 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 12,616 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 86% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 55 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 1,816 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 57 |
| Conversion cost$405/sq ft all-in on 63,082 sq ft | $25.5M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $1.3M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantbelow the statutory cap | $3.4M |
| 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
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 453 ft of exterior wall, and across 5 residential floors the building carries 2,264 ft of it in total, divided among the 57 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is compact at 0.77: 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 11.4 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 96 N 3rd St scores 78 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 91, Interior depth 64, Scale 38, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 96 N 3rd St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency86% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 91 | 45% | 41.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 55 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 64 | 25% | 15.9 |
| Scale57 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 38 | 15% | 5.7 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 8% 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 38 out of 100: 57 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150.
What the conversion would cost
$405 per square foot all-in across 63,082 sq ft of converted floor, or $25.5M in total — about $448K for each of the 57 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 96 N 3rd 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 9,082 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 57 homes is $24.2M.
What would have to be true
A $1.3M gap before any grant, which the modeled $3.4M closes. What would reopen it soonest: circulation efficiency 8% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $1.3M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 57 homes finishing at $448K rather than the $425K the model assumes — 5% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $405 to $384 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $3.4M moves that threshold to $388K a home. That is below the assumed value, which is why this building counts as penciling with the grant, at market rents — subject to it qualifying under the law's vacant-and-abandoned test, which this data cannot show.
Each of these, moved on its own, would be enough to undo that for 96 N 3rd St:
Single-assumption flip points for 96 N 3rd St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 8% downto 74% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 9% downto $388K |
| Average unit size | 9% upto 815 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 13% upto $293/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 96 N 3rd St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown San Jose
96 N 3rd St ranks 22nd of the 47 buildings screened here, against a median score of 77.
Its floor plate is better lit than 72% of them, and shallower than 64% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 41st largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 47 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.
Within the DC zone
21st of 40 zoned DC — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
40 of the screened buildings are zoned DC. 96 N 3rd St ranks 21st of them against a median score of 78. 24 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 59 ft from a facade against this building’s 55 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 8,653 homes. The group’s top scorer is 1 Almaden Blvd, at 100.
Its nearest match in size: 210 N 4th St
The screened building closest to 96 N 3rd St in converted floor area is 210 N 4th St: 67,305 sq ft over 6 stories, against 63,082 sq ft over 6 here.
The two land within a few points of each other — 78 here, 77 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 only with the modeled RESIDE grant. The two stand about 900 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 96 N 3rd St $3.4M, 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 96 N 3rd St
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.
- 30 N 3rd St10 stories · 100% daylit · already an apartment buildingabout 200 ft away
- 156 E St John St6 stories · 100% daylit · already an apartment buildingabout 350 ft away
- 152 N 3rd St9 stories · 79% daylit · 177 estimated homes · scores 81/100 (Strong candidate)about 370 ft away
- 4 N 2nd St13 stories · 76% daylit · 182 estimated homes · scores 72/100 (Strong candidate)about 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.