SAN JOSE — Well over 100 affordable homes could sprout on a vacant lot in San Jose, a plan that is being floated by a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who hopes to pioneer a cutting-edge approach to housing development.
Curtis Wong, chief executive officer and founder of Cloud Apartments, is pitching plans for an affordable housing development at 1265 The Alameda in San Jose, a preliminary proposal on file with city planners shows.
An estimated 174 affordable units would be built in an apartment building on the empty lot, according to documents posted on the San Jose Planning Department website.
Cloud Apartments and Wong are seeking a streamlined city approval process by using provisions in state law SB 330, the city documents show.
The potential development would be built on an empty parcel that totals 0.6 acres, public records show.
Yet of particular interest is the unusual approach that Cloud Apartments takes to the development of affordable housing.
“A new approach to urban housing” is how Cloud Apartments describes its mission statement.
Richmond-based Cloud Apartments has crafted what it states is a unique technology that enables the company to assemble modules for an apartment in a factory and then snap together the modules at the development site.
“Our proprietary installation system makes installation literally a snap,” Cloud Apartments states on its website.
Wong says the sky-high costs of housing are among the factors that prodded him to launch Cloud Apartments.
“I originally began Cloud Apartments because I wanted to rethink the rental apartment amidst major housing issues in this country,” Wong states in a post on the company’s website.
The residential units are sent to the development site in what the company describes as a plug-and-play format.
“Apartments are designed, built, and shipped with all the wiring, plumbing, HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), and technology included,” Cloud Apartments says on its site.
At the development location, the apartments are “snapped together” with other units to complete the full apartment complex.
“There is an urgent housing crisis in America because it is simply too expensive and takes too long to build,” Cloud Apartments states on its website.
Middle-income renters are among those that the company believes are struggling.
“Within this context, Cloud Apartments is creating a new brand of modular apartments for the modern renter,” the company says.
On the company’s website, Cloud Apartments describes a project whose location correlates to the development that is being eyed at 1265 The Alameda in San Jose.
“Located near San Jose Airport, Santa Clara University, and a short drive to downtown San Jose, Cloud San Jose will be our flagship building in the heart of Silicon Valley,” the company states. It wasn’t immediately clear whether this post specifically was describing the property on The Alameda.
Besides San Jose, Cloud Apartments is eyeing projects in Concord, Berkeley, Redwood City and Watsonville.
Plenty of amenities are being contemplated for the Cloud Apartments project in San Jose. A rooftop deck, gym, lounge and parking garage are among the features for the complex the the company lists on its website.
Cloud Apartments is requesting developers to submit proposals regarding specific sites and the company will then respond with a study that details the feasibility of developing affordable housing on the property.
Wong, the Cloud Apartments CEO, is a former engineer for SpaceX and worked on the spacecraft company’s launch pads. He hopes to bring the innovation approach at SpaceX to his new company.
“We see ourselves as a product company and a technology company,” Wong stated on his LinkedIn page. “We create cutting-edge modular products. Think of us as the innovation hub for the construction industry.”
Cloud Apartments has attracted venture capital funding, including a $3 million financing round this year that was led by Tim Connors at Pivotnorth Capital.
The company lists three sizes of apartments on its site. These consist of a studio totaling 500 square feet, a one-bedroom unit totaling 750 square feet and a two-bedroom apartment totaling 1,000 square feet.
“Our mission is to fundamentally change the economics and efficiencies of housing construction,” the company states on its website.