Retail site may become big housing development
A San Jose retail center with high-profile merchants could be replaced by a big housing development, according to plans on file with city officials.
The shopping center being eyed as a redevelopment site is located at the corner of Blossom Hill Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard, across the street from Westfield Oakridge, the big regional shopping mall.
A group managed by real estate executives Mike LaBarbera and Robert Facchino II owns the property at 865 Blossom Hill Road, according to Santa Clara County public documents.
The proposed housing development would replace a building with several well-known merchants: BevMo!, a wine, beer and spirits retailer; Scandinavian Designs, a contemporary home furnishings store; and Party City, a party supplies retailer.
An adjacent surface parking lot also would be part of the residential development.
Some merchants in the shopping center appear to be outside the development footprint, according to a summary of the preliminary
plans posted by city officials.
Not included in the project, the plans show: Mandarin Gourmet Restaurant, Pho 24 Vietnamese Cuisine & Sweet Tea, a Chevron gasoline station and Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant.
An estimated 172 residential units could be developed on the property, city planning documents show.
The residences would consist of 137 town homes and 35 accessory dwelling units, also commonly known as ADUs, according to the very preliminary
application on file with the city. South Bay architect Kurt Anderson is working with the developers on the project, city files show.
The Facchino/LaBarbera Blossom Hill entity that owns the property filed the proposal in a fashion that suggests the developer would use a streamlined approval process for housing under the rules sketched out in SB 330, state legislation aimed at spurring new residential development, the city files show.
SB 330 also can be used to limit the roadblocks that can be placed in the path of
a project proposal.
This residential project could contribute to what is a shifting scene on this stretch of Blossom Hill Road.
Just to the west, the exit of longtime anchor Sears prompted a wide-ranging revamp of the Oakridge shopping center that brought several new stores to the regional mall.
A few blocks away, at 1007 Blossom Hill Road, construction is underway on a 271-unit residential complex that will replace a long-shuttered Fish Market seafood restaurant.