Mixed-use project proposed west of Google’s urban village
The development in downtown San Jose is several blocks from the search giant’s planned transit-oriented community
SAN JOSE >> Plans for a mixeduse apartment and retail complex have sprouted west of downtown San Jose, a development that would bring more than 100 residences to an area known as the Midtown district.
The proposed development at 259 Meridian Ave. near West San Carlos Street would consist of 110 to 120 residential units and 2,300 square feet of retail, according to documents on file with San Jose city planners.
“The city has been encouraging development within an urban village planning process for this area,” said Jerry Strangis, a principal executive with Strangis Properties, a realty firm that is the project consultant for the development. Strangis wouldn’t identify the principal developer of the property.
This development is several blocks away from the western downtown San Jose sites where Google wants to develop a transit-oriented community integrated with nearby neighborhoods, consisting of 6 million to 8 million square feet of offices, retail, restaurants and residences where 15,000 to 20,000 Google employees would eventually work.
“The Google campus is a long-term project that won’t be fully built for several years, and you really can’t build a project, or get construction financing, for a development based on something that would happen years from now,” Strangis said.
Instead, the development will use as its financial and marketing foundation the sizzling-hot housing market, which doesn’t seem anywhere close to outstripping demand for new dwellings.
“The market is very strong in San Jose,” Strangis said. “It supports market-rate-driven apartment projects, and that is what is being planned here.”
Other residential complexes have been completed, or are under construction, in this part of San Jose west of the Diridon train station and the downtown.
One project, the 218-unit Meridian at Midtown apartments, is located a short distance from the Strangis Properties-led mixed-use development. Meridian at Midtown, located at West San Carlos and Meridian, was completed in 2015.
Another development, the 315-unit 808 West apartments at West San Carlos and Sunol streets, is in a pre-leasing stage.
“That whole Midtown area has been slated for these types of residential developments,” said Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association.
San Jose city leaders hope that if they can encourage an urban village corridor on West San Carlos Street, that will revitalize the entire corridor and create a vibrant path between the downtown and the Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair mall area.
“You really would have a seamless connection from the downtown core area to the Diridon Station Plan Area to the West San Carlos urban village area,” said Erik Schoennauer, a principal ex-
ecutive with Schoennauer Co., a land-use and planning consultancy.
It appears that the proposed apartment complex at 259 Meridian fits, in concept, the city’s goals for urban village and mixed-use developments in the area.
“The city has been pushing for high-density housing, mixed-use development and an active street frontage,” Schoennauer said.
It makes sense, Strangis said, for the Meridian Avenue site to be transformed into a development that would replace the medical offices currently at that location.
“It’s now an under-utilized site, and it’s a much higher and better use to put in 120 apartments and some retail,” Strangis said.