Blach Construction (Blach) recently topped out The Charles, a much-anticipated affordable housing development in San Jose. Erected in partnership with Charities Housing, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to developing affordable housing in Silicon Valley, The Charles has quickly transformed a once vacant lot into a seven-story, concrete structure that will soon serve as a multi-family residential building.
The Charles, located at 551 Keyes Street, is adjacent to Downtown San Jose and San Jose State University. It will comprise 99 apartments, including 30 studios, 18 one-bedroom, 24 two-bedroom and 27 three-bedroom units. Resident amenities will include 52 underground parking stalls, a community room and shared kitchen, secured bicycle storage and laundry facilities. A sixth-floor outdoor terrace overlooking nearby Kelley Park will be ideal for tenant gathering and entertaining.
“We are thrilled with our team’s progress in hitting this significant project milestone, which is the direct result of collective and ongoing collaboration, communication and dedication to delivering quality construction,” said Kevin McIntosh, vice president at Blach Construction. “It is extremely rewarding to be a part of such a significant project in San Jose and we look forward to enhancing our community with much-needed multi-family housing.”
In keeping with Charities Housing’s mission of creating safe, sustainable and quality housing spaces that foster stable, inclusive communities for those in need, Blach leveraged cost-effective concrete for the building’s structure, employing Building Information Modeling (BIM) to streamline the construction process. Not only is concrete a highly durable, fire retardant and water-resistant solution, it is low maintenance, energy efficient and offers more attractive long-term insurance options. By modeling the structure, the team was able to increase accuracy, mitigate the potential for conflict and reduce overall waste. Additional sustainability will be realized with the large, energy-efficient photovoltaic array that spans The Charles’ roof.
Residency of The Charles will be restricted to households earning between 30-50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and half of the spaces will be reserved for Rapid-Rehousing households who are referred from the County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing.
“On behalf of Charities Housing and Catholic Charities, we congratulate Blach Construction on this major milestone in the construction of The Charles,” stated Greg Kepferle, president, Charities Housing and CEO, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County. “We deeply appreciate their professionalism and quality work on behalf of some of the most vulnerable members of our community.”
Designed by David Baker Architects, The Charles is on track to be completed and welcome residents by Summer 2025.
About Charities Housing
We are a mission driven non-profit that focuses on affordable housing development and operations and has been serving the lowest levels of affordability for families, individuals and seniors in our community for the last 30 years. Charities Housing operates in excess of 1,500 apartment homes in Santa Clara County and with the help of all our public and private partners, we have in excess of 2,000 additional apartment homes under various stages of development or predevelopment that will be delivered into the community over the next few years. For more information, visit charitieshousing.org or 408-555-8300.
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