Housing, retail complex is a go
Santa Clara OKs project with 1,565 residential units near future BART station
SANTA CLARA >> The City Council has approved a major mixed-use development that’s expected to transform the area near a future BART station into a high-density, pedestrian-friendly transit village.
The proposed Gateway Crossings project, to be developed by Cupertinobased Hunter Storm, will have 1,565 residential units — 157 of them below market rate — 45,000 square feet of retail, a 225-room hotel and 2.6 acres of park space.
The project site and area around it is prime for new development, located next to the Santa Clara Caltrain station where the new BART station is planned, near Mineta San Jose International Airport and adjacent to a retail and office mega-campus in San Jose, which is dubbed the Coleman Highline project and is also being built by Hunter Storm.
After months of wrangling between residents and the developer over the finer points of the Gateway Crossings plan, the council Tuesday unan
imously approved a development agreement, general plan amendment and a rezoning of the area from light industrial to mixeduse, high-density housing.
“The project approved by the Planning Commission I wasn’t in favor of … the project before us today is dramatically different,” Mayor Lisa Gillmor said. “I think it’s a really good project, and it’s going to take that underutilized land and turn it into something very viable.”
The plan reflects several changes from the one recommended by the Planning Commission in November.
After receiving comments from the council at a May meeting, the developer nearly doubled the amount of retail from 25,000 to 45,000 square feet, reduced the number of housing units from 1,600 to 1,565, and moved the location of a tower to avoid casting shade over park space.
While the project isn’t perfect, council members said, the developer made several changes to improve it and respond to residents’ feedback.
“I know we were thinking about something more high-density on the housing, but whatever we have is good enough,” council
member Raj Chahal said.
The Santa Clara BART station will be the terminus of a 16-mile route into Santa Clara County, known as the Silicon Valley extension.
“This site is going to have an incredible amount of potential as plans for the station evolve,” council member Teresa O’Neill said.
Ron Golem, director of real estate and transit-oriented development for Valley Transportation Authority, said Gateway Crossings’ approval should help attract federal funding for the BART extension by sending a signal that local agencies are serious about transit development.
“It’s one of the few opportunities we have to approve (transit-oriented development) prior to an application for funding,” Golem said. “It will help attract other projects.”
Construction on the vacant 21.4-acre site will happen in two phases, with a couple of residential buildings, the hotel, public park
and improvements along Brokaw Road occurring in the first phase. Construction of two remaining residential buildings and a public paseo will occur in the second phase.
Council members asked Deke Hunter, president of Hunter Properties, if he would be willing to revisit plans for the second phase and the project’s environmental impact report after the first phase is built.
While plans for phase two could change somewhat depending on how the market changes in the next few years, Hunter said he wouldn’t be willing to change the environmental report, which council members certified Tuesday evening.
“As the market changes and the goals of the city change, there may be greater density opportunities … so as the market moves you may see us come back,” Hunter said. “But I’m not willing to come back for … we’ll move with the market
when we get to phase two, we don’t want to leave that tied down.”
Among the requirements of the development agreement, Hunter Storm will pay more than $1.6 million in traffic mitigation fees and $825,000 toward bike and pedestrian improvements.
It also must agree to maintain the two public parks in the complex and make 10% of residential units affordable.
The deal also allows the Police Activities League, a Santa Clara nonprofit that hosts sports programs for youth, to lease 7,500 square feet of space for 35 years. The group has struggled for years to find a permanent home.
Some residents said they would like to see even more retail space at the site, but others raised concerns that additional retail could hurt efforts to revitalize downtown shops and restaurants.
“Any more retail is going
to be a very big risk to the downtown,” said Mary Grizzle, a resident of the Old Quad neighborhood.
Others have called for the project to include denser housing.
“We’ve had incredible success as a region in producing jobs and the products of those jobs, but we’ve fallen short of providing enough housing,” said resident Robert Fitch. “This location is perfect for additional density.”
Several residents said that they support the project, but that it still needs some tweaking to fit the community’s vision.
“I haven’t heard anyone say they don’t like the project here, but putting ingredients into a bowl and calling it cake isn’t sufficient,” said Kevin Park.
“I don’t think we’re looking at this as residents, dating couples, millennials or families. … It’s not where do we want people to live, but how do they want to live?”