Communications Hill

Communications Hill is the most unusual residential development in San Jose, built on a real hill rising out of the flat valley floor south of downtown. It sits east of Highway 87, west of Monterey Road, north of Capitol Expressway and south of Curtner Avenue, and from the top you can see downtown, the Santa Cruz Mountains and most of the valley.

Communications Hill History

The name comes from the AT&T microwave relay tower that has stood on the summit since 1972. Before any of the housing, the hill was dairy land: José Azevedo bought 96 acres here in 1896 and started a dairy, and over the following decades control passed through the Bettencourt family, whose family trust eventually led the development of the hill.

The city began preparing the area for development in 1984 and adopted the Communications Hill Specific Plan in 1992, with residential construction starting in 2002. A large share of the planned homes have been built, with later phases continuing, and it looks unlike anything around it, with dense streets of townhomes climbing the slope and small parks tucked in between.

The Grand Staircase and Neighborhood Parks

The Grand Staircase is the neighborhood’s landmark, a long public stairway climbing the hill to a viewpoint over downtown San Jose and the valley. It is popular with walkers and runners from across the city, and it is a real public amenity rather than a marketing flourish. On busy weekend mornings it can feel like an outdoor gym.

Beyond the stairs, the hill has a surprising number of small parks for its size, including Hillsdale Fitness Park, Azevedo Park, Vieira Park, Kurte Park, a dog park and the Communications Hill Trail, plus the Hillcrest open space. Most of them are within a short walk of any home on the hill.

Homes on Communications Hill

For buyers and downsizers, the housing mix is the important part. Communications Hill has single family homes, townhomes and condominiums within the same development, which is uncommon in San Jose and means there are attached, lower maintenance options with modern construction. The caveat is the terrain, since this is a hill, and the specific property’s position and internal stairs matter as much as the floor plan.

Anyone buying into a newer development with an association should read the governing documents properly, particularly reserve funding and what the association covers, and that is more important in a phased project still under construction than in a settled one. I go through those carefully for any client I represent here.

Communications Hill Schools

School assignment here does not follow neighborhood lines. Depending on the parcel, homes are served by San Jose Unified School District, with schools such as Terrell Elementary, or by Franklin-McKinley School District, with George Shirakawa Sr. Elementary, feeding into East Side Union High School District schools such as Andrew P. Hill High. I verify assignment on every listing.

Getting Around, Senior Services and Healthcare

The location is central by San Jose standards. Downtown San Jose is minutes north, Highway 87 runs along the western edge with Highways 280 and 101 close, and VTA light rail stops at the Curtner and Capitol stations along Highway 87. Caltrain serves the Tamien station a short drive north, with the smaller Capitol station just south of the hill. That transit access is a real asset for anyone thinking about the years when driving becomes less comfortable.

For older adults, the city’s Active Adults 50 and Over program runs a senior nutrition site at the Alma Community Center on West Alma Avenue, a few minutes north, and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, the county’s main public hospital, is a short drive west on Bascom Avenue.

Is Communications Hill a Good Fit for Downsizers?

It depends on the home. The appeal is newer construction, low exterior maintenance and a community of parks and paths, but many of the townhomes are multi story with the main living area up a flight of stairs, and the streets themselves are steep. If single level living matters, focus on the condominiums in elevator buildings or the detached homes with a ground floor bedroom, and walk the route to the car and the mailbox before you fall in love with the view.

Groceries and errands are mostly a short drive down the hill toward Monterey Road, Capitol Expressway or Willow Glen, so this isn’t a walk to the store neighborhood. If you’re 55 or older and selling a longtime home to move here, Proposition 19 may let you carry your low property tax base to the new home, and my Prop 19 calculator shows what that could mean.

The Communications Hill Housing Market

Sales volume on the hill is small, so the numbers move around a lot. According to Redfin’s Communications Hill market data, the median sale price over the last three months was about $930,000 on just three sales, down about 17 percent from a year earlier, while the median price per square foot was about $610, down only about 1 percent. With so few sales, price per square foot is the better guide, and the mix of condos versus townhomes in any quarter swings the median.

The attached inventory here trades below the San Jose citywide median of about $1.35 million while the detached homes sit closer to it, and newer construction generally commands a premium for condition. My San Jose home prices page tracks the trend, and my guide to living in San Jose covers the rest of the city, including nearby Willow Glen across Highway 87.

Frequently Asked Questions About Communications Hill

Whether you are selling a family home elsewhere and looking at a townhome here, or you already own on the hill and are weighing what comes next, the sequence and the tax treatment matter. Proposition 19 lets homeowners 55 and over carry their property tax basis to a replacement home, which changes the arithmetic considerably. That planning is what I do with older adults and their families. Book a call with me for a straight conversation.