Icon Residential Conversion | San Jose, CA

At the corner of 4th Street and West Santa Clara Street, downtown San Jose has room to grow upward. Urban Catalyst envisions Icon, a 26-story residential building that will add 700 homes to the city's core, with retail at the street to keep the corner lively.

Placing that many homes on a single downtown site is a test of planning. The building is designed in Type IA construction, with residential amenity spaces and ground floor retail over a single level of subterranean parking. Its 700 dwelling units will offer a mix of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes, giving people a range of ways to live downtown. Keeping parking to one level below grade lets the tower devote its height to homes and shared spaces. BDE Architecture is working alongside Urban Catalyst to organize this program into a coherent, efficient building.

Once realized, Icon will bring new residents, new amenities and new street-level shops to a central downtown corner. It represents a significant addition of housing in the heart of San Jose and a step toward a more vibrant, lived-in downtown.

Address: 145 East Santa Clara St. San Jose, CA, 95113

Client: Urban Catalyst

Number of Units: 700

Construction Type: IA

Nighttime cityscape with modern glass high-rise buildings, lit interior spaces, and trees along the streets filled with pedestrians and parked cars.

Modern multi-story building with glass facades and outdoor balcony gardens on each floor, located at street corner with people and cars in the foreground.