Transit village proposed near rail stop
447 residential units and 200,000 square feet of office space planned
SAN JOSE >> A realty firm has proposed development of a big office building and hundreds of residential units that would become a transit village perched along a light rail line in San Jose. Bay West Development is eyeing a project that would consist of 447 residential units and 200,000 square feet of office space on a triangle-shaped lot near the corner The mixed-use village would sit on this triangle-shaped site in southwest San Jose. of South Bascom Avenue and Southwest Expressway, and adjacent to the Bascom light rail station. “Forus, it’s critical to have a rail stop,” said Pete Beritzhoff, a partner with Bay West Development. “For both residential and office development, it’s becomingmore and more important that mixeduse sites are on a rail line.” Beritzhoff noted the development is in the very early stages and the housing density could be somewhatmodified. A growing number of developments with varying mixes of office, residential and retail have begun to sprout, or are being actively planned, at an array of sites near train stops. “This is the future, these developments along transit stops,” said Mark Ritchie,
president of Ritchie Commercial, a realty brokerage.
The new development proposal follows the disclosure of plans by big technology companies to build significant office space in downtown San Jose for their employees.
Near the Diridon train station, Mountain View based Google has proposed a mixed- use, transit- oriented community of 6 million to 8 million square feet of offices, retail and residential developments. Eventually, the development could accommodate 15,000 to 20,000 of the search titan’s employees in offices that would be integrated with local neighborhoods.
A short distance from Diridon Station, Adobe Systems intends to expand its downtown San Jose headquarters campus of three high rises by building a fourth office tower on a lot adjacent to its existing complex.
The new BayWest Development project along Southwest Expressway and South Bascom would be within a 10-minute ride to downtown San Jose and even closer to downtown Campbell.
The development is expected to include direct access to the Bascom light rail station for the convenience of residents and people who would be working in the site’s offices.
“Transit is a huge amenity for our residents, especially with the vicinity to downtown San Jose and all that is going on there,” Beritzh off said.
Office and residential development downtown, along with an increase in dining and nightlight amenities, are making transit stops near San Jose’s urban core more attractive, he said.
Plus, the west and southwest sections of downtown San Jose don’t offer a considerable amount of brandnew, modern office space, outside of the ongoing development in the Santana Row complex.
“The West Valley specifically is under- served for Class A office,” Beritzh off said. “There are a lot of people who live in the West Valley who work in tech.”
Many of those residents must endure grinding commutes to north San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, or even farther north.
“In years past, those might not have been substant ial commutes,” Beritzh off said. “Now they are major commutes and that means there is a demand for Class A office space in the West Valley. This site allows for substantial development of offices.”
The site also matches San Jose’s aspirations, said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy.
“This is one of those opportunity sites that have languished for a while,” Staedler said. “It is exactly the urban village-type development that San Jose has been waiting for.”