A Mega Condo Project in Milpitas Set to Rise

Almost everywhere I go here in the Silicon Valley I see new construction going up, and Milpitas is no different. It looks like some developers have gotten the approval for a luxury, mixed use high rise set to break ground next year sometime for completion in 2018. This is another example of the overall economic prospect for this area when you have major investors willing to sink money into a housing project here. They wouldn't do so if the economic forecast here looked pretty bleak.

A Mega Condo Project in Milpitas Set to Rise


BDK Capital Group LLC plans to break ground next year on an approximately $300 million mixed-use project featuring 450 luxury condominiums in Milpitas.

The Landmark Tower is outlined as two 18-story buildings featuring for-sale condos above roughly 34,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space at 600 Barber Lane, the site of a former Chevrolet dealership.

Arcadia, Calif.-based real estate investment and development group Singpoli Capital Corp. and joint venture partner American BD, which comprise BDK, purchased the entitled three-acre site for $21 million in November from Pham Co. LLC, said William Chu, CFO at Singpoli.
The site was entitled for an up to 760,000-square-foot mixed-use project in 2008, and Singpoli is looking to gain city approval to “fine-tune” the design by bumping up the number of condo units from 375 to 450 and reducing the commercial space, Chu said. The property also will include 1,240 parking spaces.

“It’s a high-quality design,” said Edesa Bitbadal, the city’s economic development director. “It speaks to the direction the City of Milpitas is going,” adding that more millennials and technology employees are moving into the city and seeking housing with “better services and amenities.” The city expects full-service restaurants will occupy the commercial space, she said.

Irvine, Calif.-based architecture firm MVE+Partners is designing the project, which will include eight four-bedroom penthouse units along with a rooftop deck, lounges, fitness center, pool and community room. The project design gives it “an exclusivity and [feel of the] New York lifestyle in Silicon Valley,” Bitbadal said.

Landmark Tower, slated to open in 2018, will be near a local bus route and about one mile from a light-rail station. Also nearby is Cisco Systems, Inc., Milpitas Square shopping mall—featuring many Asian eateries—Asian-American grocery 99 Ranch Market, Wal-Mart, the planned Pacific Mall, and the new Levi’s Stadium, home to the San Francisco 49ers. It also will be near the BART station, scheduled to debut in 2018.

The project will be Singpoli’s first development outside of Southern California. Milpitas fits into its strategy of investing in growing markets, Chu said. He also noted that the company liked the city’s demographics, with a median age of 32 years old and median family income of $103,000, based on 2013 statistics.

The Silicon Valley city, also home to companies such as electronics manufacturer Flextronics and manufacturing firm KLA-Tencor Corp, is easily accessible to Interstates 880 and 680 and Highway 237

Milpitas is garnering much interest from developers and has 7,000 residential units under consideration or in the works, Bitbadal said.

“The city has done its share in developing housing for residents and providing it regionally—we have welcomed it,” Bitbadal said.

In Southern California, Singpoli recently renovated a historic Pasadena hotel into the 130-key upscale boutique DusitD2 Hotel Constance and is now co-developing a 159-room Marriott Courtyard and 129-rom Marriott Residence Inn in Marina Del Rey. Singpoli began as a construction company in Hong Kong in 1977.



Source: Nancy Amdur, TheRegistry
http://news.theregistrysf.com/a-mega-condo-project-in-milpitas-set-to-rise/