About Spartan Village on the Paseo

• What is Spartan Village on the Paseo?

  • Spartan Village on the Paseo will be the newest addition to SJSU’s student housing stock. The project will occupy the south tower of a luxury hotel property adjacent to the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San José through a lease by SJSU.

    Upwards of 700 beds, in the initial year of operation, will be spread across 264 existing rooms and 11 residential floors, with community amenities occupying the second floor mezzanine.

    Spartan Village on the Paseo will be an undergraduate student housing community for first-years and returning students looking for a different housing options off-campus.

• How is SJSU able to create more student housing?

  • SJSU is entering into a landmark partnership with a private real estate investment firm based in the Bay Area, Throckmorton Partners. Throckmorton Partners recently acquired the south tower of the existing commercial property and will lease the tower to SJSU for a period of time. SJSU will renovate the existing property into student housing with all new amenities, facilities, fixtures and furnishings.

    SJSU has plans to purchase the building after two years of the lease term.

• When will it open?

  • The university plans to quickly renovate the hotel tower and aims to have it open for residency by students in August 2024.

    Housing applications began March 5, 2024 for the fall. Contact uhs-frontdesk@sjsu.edu for housing application information if you or your student has not yet secured housing for the acdemic year.

• What are the amenities?

  • In addition to housing, the project will have study spaces and lounges; a fitness center; gaming and communal space; a community kitchen; on-site dining; and on-site Residential Life staff and community programming space. The ground floor lobby will be the sole entrance into the community with a staff-managed mailroom and seamless elevator access to all residential floors.

• How will the rooms be configured?

  • There will be double-occupancy rooms, triple-occupancy rooms and, quad-occupancy suites available for students.

    Resident Advisors will live in single-occupancy rooms and Residential Life Coordinators will live in suites. There will be two RAs per floor.

    View the floorplans.

• Will this project have any affordable housing?

  • Spartan Village on the Paseo will have 124 affordable student beds. Rental rates for these rooms are at significantly lower amounts than prevailing rates for conventional student housing on campus. This will ensure students in need are able to access campus-provided housing.

• What kinds of students can live here?

  • Undergraduates, including first-year students, international students, student athletes (designated by Athletics) and graduate students can apply to live at Spartan Village on the Paseo.

• What are the benefits to this project?

  • SJSU will be able to deliver on its intention to provide more student housing and more affordable student housing near campus and leverage state affordable housing funding to do so. By leasing an already-built tower, SJSU can bring housing online at a far faster rate than building new facilities on or off campus for housing.

    Introducing hundreds of new student residents to the downtown area, still only a seven-minute walk to campus, will mean greater support and patronage for local small businesses, enhanced security and safety in the community, greater vibrancy to the neighborhood, and close proximity for students to internship and job opportunities with global and local companies across a variety of sectors and industries.

• What will be done to ensure residents will be kept safe?

  • Understandably, this location being off-campus presents unique security considerations that SJSU aims to manage with increased University Police presence at all times along the Paseo de San Antonio that supplements future plans for increased San José Police Department foot patrols in the downtown area.

    Campus walking escorts as well as the Safe Ride shuttle program also covers the area around Spartan Village. Request those services on the Spartan Safe mobile app.

    Access to the tower itself is securely controlled by a fully-staffed single point of entry from the ground floor lobby with existing campus housing access policies to apply to this new property that also applies to existing campus housing.

    Each floor, 11 in total, will have two student Resident Advisors who live full-time on-site. In addition, a to be determined number of professional staff Resident Life Coordinators will also live on-site in their own separate units. University Housing Services will have a presence on-site in offices located on the second floor adjacent to the student dining facility. This is in addition to the staffing of the front desk.

    Extensive improvements are under way to update security systems throughout the building to ensure only SJSU residents and their authorized temporary visitors and designated staff are allowed inside.

• Will staff or faculty be able to live at this new property?

  • Spartan Village is an exclusively student-only residence hall. However, SJSU is working to develop workforce housing for staff, faculty and graduate students one block east of this site, across from the Hammer Theatre Center at the Alquist state office building. Full details on that ongoing redevelopment can be found here.

• Will there be parking?

  • The single biggest advantage of this location is its close proximity both to the main campus and comprehensive public transit in downtown San José that provides residents seamless access to the region and the greater Bay Area. 

    Two of the main VTA light rail lines stop directly behind Spartan Village and bus lines connecting the site to area shopping malls, sporting venues, entertainment, jobs and internship and BART also stop at the building along First Street.

    SJSU understands that some students may desire to bring their vehicles to campus, even while residents of university housing. While residents should not expect parking directly on-site, there are several neaby parking options:

    SVP resident overnight parking permits at the West Parking Garage (WPG) on Fourth Street. Visit sjsu.edu/parking to complete the permit application for Permit H. Get the latest pricing and application instructions.

    WPG is located three blocks east from Spartan Village on the western edge of campus. Contact parking@sjsu.edu for all campus parking questions.

    For residents wanting to park closer, a City-owned garage managed by ParkSJ is located at the Colonnade Apartments (above Philz Coffee) and SVP residents have access to a special overnight parking permit offer for $120/month.

    Surface lots are available around SVP and managed privately by ACE Parking. ACE lots are located adjacent to the Hammer Theater Center between Second and Third Streets as well as on San Carlos and Market Streets. Visit the lots in person for instruction on how to pay for parking either daily or monthly.

    It is a top university priority to encourage sustainable methods of transportation and urges all campus community members to use public transit. As the CSU's only location in the middle of a downtown, SJSU is committed to being an environmentally-friendly neighbor to the community.

    Find out more transit, discounted fares and passes and bike and scooter programs from SJSU Associated Students Transportation Solutions.

• How can I stay updated on this project's progress?

  • Sign up on the email updates page.

Have any questions or concerns not answered here on the website? Email newhousing@sjsu.edu.