Hundreds of apartments planned near downtown San Jose

More than 200 apartments could be coming to San Jose’s Buena Vista neighborhood as city planning officials consider a proposal that would require demolition of several buildings.

Cupertino-based Urban Villas LLC is pitching a slightly bigger version of a previously approved project just outside of downtown San Jose that includes 237 apartments and nearly 17,000 square feet of retail in an eight-story building.

The plans call for demolishing eight historic homes, including a century-old Craftsman-style home and seven Spanish Revival-style bungalows, as well as three vacant commercial buildings, to make way for the complex.

The entire project would be built on a 1.3-acre site located at 1530-1544 W. San Carlos St. on the southeast corner near Buena Vista Avenue, city reports said. The proposal goes before the city planning director on Wednesday.