San José Announces First-of-its-Kind Supportive Housing Development
City Officials, non-profits, and private developers come together to share details about a new mixed-use development which will host both market-rate, affordable and permanent supportive housing on one lot
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January, 11 2024
Media Contact:
Tasha Dean, Chief Communications Officer, Office of Mayor Matt Mahan, tasha.dean@sanjoseca.gov
SAN JOSÉ, CA - Today, San José Mayor Matt Mahan was joined by City officials, non-profit partners, and representatives of Westbank to announce the development of a first-of-its-kind supportive housing project in the heart of Downtown San José. The project is located at the Pacific Motor Inn, a former hotel recently acquired by PMI Partners LLC, a joint venture between PATH Ventures and Westbank. Once completed, the project will bring nearly 500 units into the downtown area, consisting of permanent supportive, affordable, and market-rate units. During development, the original 72-rooms on the hotel property will act as interim housing for those currently living outdoors in unmanaged conditions.
“With state support, local communities are working to tackle homelessness,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom. “The City of San José is setting an example by creating collaborative and innovative solutions that can be replicated by other communities throughout the state.”
“This is the first time that supportive housing for families, affordable housing and market rate housing will be built on one lot in California – but it won’t be the last,” said San José Mayor Matt Mahan. “This project shows that innovation is possible when the public, private and non-profit sectors come together to solve our homelessness crisis.”
In 2021, the City of San José applied for Project Homekey dollars to repurpose the Pacific Motor Inn into emergency interim housing. Westbank, a leading luxury residential and mixed-use real estate development company, and PATH Ventures, a recognized leader in creating high-quality, affordable, and stable homes for California’s most vulnerable residents, came together to form PMI Partners LLC. Over the past two years, Westbank and PATH have worked collaboratively with the City of San José and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to finalize the terms of this innovative vision and acquire the site.
“The work to make the Pacific Motor Inn project a reality has been underway for over two years and the result will be among the most innovative solutions to how we build high quality housing across the income spectrum in Silicon Valley,” said Andrew Jacobson, Vice President of U.S. Development at Westbank. “This project would not have been possible without our dynamic partner, Path Ventures, as well as the combined support of the City of San José and the State of California, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see how innovative public-private-non profit partnerships such as these can contribute meaningfully to the housing solution. Westbank is committed to providing housing across the continuum in San José and look forward to continuing our work with the City, State and all our public and non-profit partners to build on this foundation we have started together.”
Over the next five years, the site will be redeveloped to include a mid-rise affordable housing development including 140 units of affordable housing, 72 of which would be permanent supportive housing, owned and operated by PATH Ventures. A high-rise building on the same lot will have 360 market-rate housing units, owned and operated by Westbank. The same architect will design both buildings. The development will leverage $19 million from State Homekey dollars and $25 million from the City of San José in addition to resources from both PATH Ventures and Westbank to create more housing than what Homekey funds were initially conceived to accomplish.
“Homes end homelessness—that is why PATH Ventures is proud to work alongside Westbank and the City of San José to utilize the Governor’s Project Homekey funding for the redevelopment of the Pacific Motor Inn,” said Anthony Bahamondes, Chief Housing Officer for PATH Ventures. “To meet the growing need to address homelessness here, PATH Ventures has opened two supportive housing communities in San José and we have three more projects in development across Santa Clara County. We look forward to the future use of this site as interim housing and eventually supportive housing for our most vulnerable community members.”
Westbank will also be developing the lot next to the Pacific Motor Inn to house approximately 500 market rate units, for a total of 1000 mixed-income units between the two lots.
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About the City of San José
With almost one million residents, San José is one of the most diverse large cities in the United States and is Northern California’s largest city and the 12th largest city in the nation. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center has resulted in one of the largest concentrations of technology companies and expertise in the world.