Milpitas council approves mixed-use condo development on Montague Expressway

After developers were told to go back to the drawing board earlier this year to improve the design and amenities of a proposed 216-unit condominium project with nearly 6,000 square feet of mixed-use retail for a parcel in southern Milpitas, city officials formally advanced the revised version of the development last week.

Milpitas City Council voted 4-0 Aug. 2, with Councilman Garry Barbadillo recusing himself, to approve 720 Montague. The project, located on a 2.35-acre site along Montague Expressway, South Milpitas Boulevard and Gladding Court, will be located near the planned Milpitas Bay Area Rapid Transit Station.

The project's proposed condos will include 15 junior one bedrooms units, 126 one bedroom units and 75 two bedroom units, which range in size from 690 square feet and 1,200 square feet. In addition, the project will feature two floors of below ground parking with 353 parking stalls, with 334 spots for residents and 19 for retail use. Additionally, the site will have 54 bicycle stalls and 17 short-term bike spots.

The project was previously reviewed by the Milpitas Planning Commission on April 13.

When asked by that panel about the intent of the retail space, Badru Valani, the property owner and developer, said he would like to include a cafe that provides breakfast, lunch and dinner, or something similar that can be available all day. Also at the April 13 meeting, Milpitas Unified Board of Education Vice President Bob Nunez said the school district supported the project.

Although well liked by planners, by the following month the city council took issue with 720 Montague's design.

On May 3, Mayor Jose Esteves told the developer the project lacked public amenities and added he was not "impressed" with its design. Ulitmately, the council voted 2-2, with Esteves and Vice Mayor Carmen Montano dissenting, to table the development for a future meeting. Barbadillo recused himself from the vote due to a conflict of interest.

But last week the city council offered a different reaction to the project as they expressed happiness with the changes made to its design as well as the amenities the city would get from this development. That included $60,000 to the city's general fund for community benefit; $70,000 to extend the city's recyclable water pipes; and $9 million in transit fees.

At the Aug. 2 meeting, the developer presented the changes that had been made to the design which included changing the material used for the facade of the four- to five-story building to wood composite panel, extending the balconies, adding architecture that defined the first-floor retail space and using more of the city's official tree -- the jacaranda -- on site.

At the same meeting, the council also approved an exemption to allow for a pool and spa to be built into the property as an amenity for the residents of the complex. The pools cannot be filled until the state lifts its drought restrictions. Other amenities include two interior courtyards, a connecting breezeway with seating options and an indoor Wi-Fi lounge and gym.

Resident Robert Marini took issue with additional housing units being built when residents are being asked to conserve water. The mayor disagreed.

"We have to balance growth with conservation. Not zero growth, I don't want to have to ask my kids to not have a kid, we have to accommodate growth, if you want to control housing development talk to the governor," Esteves said.


Source: The San Jose Mercury News, Aliyah Mohammed
http://www.mercurynews.com/milpitas/ci_30238503/milpitas-council-approves-mixed-use-condo-development-montague

Santa Clara approves Silicon Valley's biggest private development deal ever

SANTA CLARA -- Feeling giddy in the aftermath of the City Council's unanimous approval of a $6.5 billion development deal, Mayor Lisa Gillmor on Thursday called the experience "surreal."

"It's exhausting. It's a little bit nerve-wracking. There's so much information that we've had to digest, comprehend and weed through," Gillmor said, predicting, "This is going to be the key to our financial future in Santa Clara."

The 9.7 million-square-foot City Place -- described as the largest private development project in Silicon Valley's history -- is to be built by the Related Companies on 240 acres of city-owned land across from Levi Stadium. Plans call for up to 5.7 million square feet of offices, 1.1 million square feet of retail space, 700 hotel rooms and from 200 to 1,680 apartments, as well as a 35-acre park.

Sitting atop what is now a golf course and BMX track, the mixed-use project's anticipated tax and other financial benefits are "staggering," Gillmor said.

The city has projected that it will receive up to $16.9 million in annual tax benefits, along with $9 million to $14 million in yearly rent revenues, once the project is up and running.

The county should benefit, too: Its annual property and sales tax benefits are pegged at up to $11.6 million, while the Santa Clara Unified School District anticipates receiving as much as $22.1 million each year in property taxes. The Valley Transportation Authority would receive up to $8 million annually in sales taxes, according to City Place projections.

Santa Clara's share would be a huge shot in the arm to the city's general fund, which has taken a $14 million annual hit since the dissolution in 2012 of the state's redevelopment agencies, Gillmor said. It will "make up the cash flow into our general fund for generations to come."

Construction costs are tagged at $5 billion, with more than 80 percent of the work to be handled by union labor. Built on landfill, the project involves the construction of a massive platform on top of which its core elements -- dubbed the City Center -- will sit: retail and department stores, hotel rooms, residential units and about 1 million square feet of offices.

"We call it our uptown," said Gillmor.

Historically, the city has lacked its own entertainment district: "Residents have to go to other cities, like Campbell, Los Gatos and (San Jose's) Santana Row," said acting City Manager Rajeev Batra. "But this will provide all those restaurants and destinations in Santa Clara, and also keep our tax revenues here."

Councilwoman Kathy Watanabe put it like this: "It creates a new destination for out-of-towners coming to Silicon Valley. Sometimes it just takes awhile for things to happen, and now it's happening."

Tuesday's approval of the project was "definitely a relief," Batra said. "It's a big milestone, obviously, and you wouldn't believe how much hard work has gone into it from all of the staff. The documentation itself -- if you saw the package, there were 3,000 pages behind the 20-page report to the council."

The idea for the project was informally floated about four years ago, Gillmor said. Founded by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, Related began talking to the city about three years ago.

Construction on the first of the project's eight phases should begin in summer 2017 "if everything lines up," Batra said.

Likewise, the City Center should be completed in five to seven years, "if not a bit sooner," said Stephen Eimer, an executive vice president with Related and comanaging partner of the project.

The construction of outlying office parks -- up to another 5 million square feet or so, he said -- will be subject to market demand and likely come online later.

One detail of note: 49ers legend Joe Montana, a limited partner in the project, expects to establish a restaurant in the City Center: "He's going to do a Montana-themed, football-themed restaurant," Gillmor said. "He will have a signature development on this property."

City Place has not been without its critics. Neighbors have voiced concerns about traffic, parking and other quality-of-life issues. San Jose officials wondered about the project's environmental impact and complained that the city will have to provide housing and services for those who work at nearby City Place.

Gillmor on Thursday dismissed San Jose's objections: "This is going to be a huge benefit to the entire area," she said. "We want our workers to work here, play here and live here, and this is the kind of development that will do that for Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and especially North San Jose."

Source: San Jose Mercury News, Richard Scheinin
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_30077172/its-surreal-silicon-valleys-biggest-private-development-project

Citation Homes buys San Jose Toys R Us site for mixed use

Citation Homes, continuing to ramp up its development pipeline in Silicon Valley, has acquired a nearly 4-acre San Jose retail site near Santana Row where it is planning a mixed-use project with apartments and retail.

Santa Clara-based Citation — the company headed by former Oakland A's owner Stephen C. Schott — paid an undisclosed sum for the Toys R Us property at 751 S. Winchester Blvd. this week, according to public records. The seller was the Wayne, N.J.-based retailer.

Toys R Us did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Citation's Stephen Schott Jr., who now runs the company, told me it's still very early in the development process. Citation has not yet turned in a proposal for the site, and it's unclear just how many units and how much retail could be built. But he said the location near the intersection of two major freeways, major jobs and retail centers is ideal.

"It's going to take some time, and we're working with the city," Schott told me. "We feel long-term, it's a great project and a great location for mixed use."

This is the latest sign of Citation's resurgence in the region. Citation — once one of the largest homebuilders here — cut back on its new projects several years ago. Now it has about 1,500 units in the pipeline, most of them apartments.

Case in point: Also on Tuesday, Citation closed on a 4.5-acre site in Fremont, where it is considering 76 apartments and 54 townhomes. Citation paid $13.15 million for that land, a former city corporation yard. (I wrote about this deal back in July.)

Citation's biggest project here is in Milpitas, where it has some 1,000 units near the new BART station coming online in three stages. The first, with about 380 units, is under construction.

And Citation is already in lease-up mode at Tuscany, a Santa Clara apartment complex on El Camino Real that includes 133 apartments. "It's doing pretty well so far, and it's not even open yet," Schott said.

While the activity represents a major ramp-up, Schott said the company is not trying to grow just for growth's sake.

"We're just trying to slowly build up an apartment portfolio that makes sense," he said. "And we'll still do townhouse here and there."

As for when the Toys R Us site could get going? The retailer is in the building at least through early 2016, and could extend its lease beyond that, assuming both parties were on the same page.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal, Nathan Donato-Weinstein
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/10/01/citation-homes-buys-san-jose-toys-r-us-site-for.html

Mass Eviction—San Jose’s Largest—to Displace 670 People

Growing up in New Orleans, where roof-stripping squalls are a matter of course, Tyrone Lockett learned how the force of nature could render anyone a nomad. When Hurricane Katrina tore through frail levees in 2005, he watched the devastation from afar as his family lost everything to the floodwater fury.

“Mother Nature comes calling and takes what she will,” says Lockett, who settled in San Jose a year before the Loma Prieta earthquake shattered the cityscape.

But it was another force entirely that prompted the 49-year-old private school chef and his stroke-stricken wife to leave their longtime home: Silicon Valley’s ascendant economy, which turned his rent-controlled apartment into a goldmine.

Lockett recently moved out of his two-bedroom flat at The Reserve, a 216-unit west San Jose complex slated for the wrecking ball to make way for a market-rate replacement with 640 units and 8,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. It’s the kind of dense, urban architecture the city needs to fix the housing shortage and drive down living costs.

But there’s a hitch. Satisfying demand by supplanting low-density real estate with taller, more populated mixed-use developments casts existing tenants into a brutal market.

Nowhere is that problem more pronounced right now than at The Reserve, where some 670 residents have less than a year to get out. By the city’s count, it appears to be the largest eviction in Silicon Valley history—possibly the state’s—and it caught San Jose completely off guard.

For context, consider that San Francisco called a drawn-out eviction of 100 tenants from 86 rent-controlled units the largest in the city’s history. At The Reserve, nearly seven times as many people got the boot with far less notice.

To make matters worse, the South Bay city of a million has no policy on the books to help tenants pay for the forced move. This was never supposed to happen, says Randi Kinman, who chairs the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s policy advisory subcommittee, a regional planning body. Evicting 600-plus people from rent-controlled units conflicts with state-set goals to maintain housing stock for all income levels.

“We kind of brush off displacement from four units here or five units there,” Kinman says. “But at no point has there been any idea that we would see this scale of displacement or that it would remove this many rent-controlled units. When I brought this up at our meeting two months ago, people wanted to know how could this possibly be happening? Everybody just kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Holy smokes.’”

The project’s developer, Greystar Real Estate Partners, won city approval months ago and gave residents until next spring to clear out of the 45-year-old complex. Tenants challenged the permit, arguing that the environmental review wrongfully deemed the displacement a “less than significant impact” and that scores of them could become homeless. They lost the appeal in a 7-3 City Council vote last week, despite support from council members Ash Kalra, Tam Nguyen and Magdalena Carrasco.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what we’ll do now,” says Tanisha Orozco, 24, a five-year tenant who’s seven months pregnant and lives in a two-bedroom unit with her husband, their toddler and her mom and dad. “We’ll probably have to move to Sacramento.”

Because no city law requires the landlord to compensate tenants for forced relocation, Greystar drummed up its own offer. According to the latest version, only households making less than 80 percent of the region’s median income qualify. The 40 or so units that meet the threshold stand to gain three months’ rent, a refunded security deposit and help from a “relocation specialist” to scout out a new place.

Tenants who are older than 62, disabled or have at least one child who lives with and depends on them get another $3,000. Greystar also urged people to apply at some of the 8,000 apartment units it owns across San Jose.

“This was voluntary on our part,” says Greystar lobbyist Erik Schoennauer. “We wanted to help people who needed it even though there’s no policy requiring us to do so.”

Tenants say they don’t necessarily oppose redevelopment—The Reserve is apparently teeming with cockroaches and silverfish, and rife with code enforcement and health violations. Several tenants say they lived with overflowing sewage, black mold and holes in the dry wall for days before Greystar sent someone to help.

But the relocation benefits, tenants argue, leave most of them out and doesn’t come close to covering the cost of uprooting hundreds of people, many of whom live on fixed incomes and can’t afford market-rate housing in San Jose. They say the bulk of Greystar’s other apartments fall outside their price range. A 386-square-foot studio at The Reserve goes for up to $1,745 a month. Tenants implored the city and Greystar to offer more money to people to no avail.

“I really don’t characterize this as a negotiation,” Schoennauer says. “I would characterize it as a dialogue. We’re volunteering to do this.”

Councilman Chappie Jones, whose district encompasses the South Winchester Boulevard apartment complex, says he can’t do much to help The Reserve tenants. But he says their plight will inform future policy.

“One of the things that we learned from this is that we don’t have any rules to go by for these situation,” Jones says. “I was surprised to learn that. I expected something. That’s why I proposed a displacement ordinance. We’re in the eye of the storm here when it comes to issues of development and displacement.”

San Jose’s housing staff expects to bring a relocation compensation policy proposal back to the council this fall. That’s too late for tenants at The Reserve, who will all enter a rental market with a dearth of affordable housing and a 3-percent vacancy rate.

“Our life revolves around our son, who starts high school this year,” says Angel Milano, a 56-year-old electrical engineer who pays $2,200 a month for a two-bedroom apartment at The Reserve. “It’s going to be hard finding a place by his school. We’ll do what we can.”

Some of Milano’s neighbors expect to move to the Central Valley, pulling their kids out of school and away from family. A nursing student says she’ll have to drop out to move. A single dad says he’ll have to dip into his daughter’s college fund for what will be his sixth move in five years.

“There goes the down payment we were saving for,” says Brandie Locke, 30, who moved into her first-story unit at The Reserve five years ago in the hope that the rent-control cap would help her and her husband save to buy a home. “You have to put your life on hold.”

Sandy Perry, head of Santa Clara County’s Affordable Housing Network, says the city made a mistake in arguing that simply replacing The Reserve’s 216 units with 650 new ones will offset displacement by creating more homes.

“They deny that any real displacement will take place,” Perry says. “Nothing could be further from the truth. When people can’t find a comparable apartment to rent, they don’t disappear into thin air. They relocate to outlying areas and commute for hours. Or they become homeless.”

Perry criticized San Jose’s mayor and council for not doing more to help. When more than 400 people faced eviction at Buena Vista mobile home park in Palo Alto, he says, Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian led a charge with other agencies that raised $45 million to buy the property and stave off redevelopment. When 100 people lost their home to a fire that torched Twin Pines Manor Apartments in Sunnyvale, the county, the city and a host of nonprofits raised money to find them shelter.

“Why is nobody championing people at The Reserve?” Perry wonders.

Jennifer Loving, executive director of Destination: Home, says the city needs to think about how to prevent displacement if it’s serious about ending homelessness.

“Prevention should be a huge part of the discussion,” she says. “When decisions are made at the policy level, there’s a human cost we have to consider.”

San Jose has provisions for tree displacement but nothing about displaced people, Kinman says. It’s a glaring oversight that’s made a tough situation disastrous, she says, predicting that the crisis at The Reserve will reverberate across the entire region.

“We want more housing and we want this development,” she says. “We just can’t ignore the impacts of the people who already live there. You can’t just count the numbers and say, ‘Well there’s a net gain here.’ If that were the case, we could tear down all the low-income housing and all the rent-controlled housing to make way for more units. But it doesn’t work that way. That destroys people’s lives.”

Lockett likens the lack of policy to account for mass eviction to the defective flood walls that turned Hurricane Katrina into the biggest manmade disaster in the nation’s history.

“This is our broken levee,” he says.

Source: San Jose Inside, Jennifer Wadsworth
http://www.sanjoseinside.com/2016/06/29/mass-eviction-san-joses-largest-to-displace-670-people/

Santa Clara Unanimously Approves Related’s $6.7B City Center Project

Following a deliberation that lasted over four hours, the city council of Santa Clara gave the Related Companies the go-ahead it had been seeking for almost four years—the right to redevelop a 239-acre landfill in the northern part of the city into a mega development that at completion could include 5.4 million square feet of office, 1.1 million square feet of retail space, 1,680 residential units, 700 hotel rooms, 250,000 square feet of food & beverage space and 190,000 square feet of entertainment space. The City Center project promises to be the largest project the Silicon Valley city has ever embarked on, and the final meeting, not unlike the entire process that preceded it, was challenged to the very last minute.

The meeting opened with City Manager Rajeev Batra describing the project in some detail, outlining the process the developer has undertaken with the city, as well as providing a comprehensive overview of the fiscal benefits for the city. In all, the New York-based developer is looking to spend $6.7 billion in total development cost, of which approximately $5 billion would be for construction only. The city of Santa Clara stands to gain nearly $17 million annually in net general funding alone once the project is fully completed, according to Batra.

During Related’s portion of the presentation, the fiscal benefits were summarized at $114 million in total annual recurring revenue to various jurisdictions in Santa Clara at completion. That includes estimated annual allocations of $41 million to the city, $33 million to the school district, $17 million to the county and $14 million to the VTA in addition to an estimated growth in ridership of 52 percent.

“It’s very exciting times, I’m very pleased to present to you one of the biggest projects in the city of Santa Clara,” said Batra as he opened the meeting on Tuesday evening. His presentation to the council concluded with a resounding recommendation to the city council that that the project be approved.

That approval would come after four hours of discussions and evidence that a few lingering issues were still unresolved.

The city of San Jose, for one, sent one of its city attorney deputies to voice San Jose’s disproval of the project and object to the way Santa Clara managed the communications of the review process.

“There are significant environmental impacts,” said Senior Deputy City Attorney Vera Todorov during the public comment portion of the evening. “For example, the DDA that you’re considering tonight was first made public a couple of days ago. It’s 625 pages long.” Todorov explained that this was insufficient time for the public to review and comment on the project details. But that was just one of San Jose’s grievances.

“[Santa Clara’s] consideration of this project will create dramatically more jobs than housing units in a region that is already suffering from a serious housing shortage. It flies in the face of responsible planning and environmental stewardship,” said Todorov. “The project will require San Jose to bear the burden of providing housing and other municipal services to project employees.”

In closing, Todorov asked the city council to take a step back from the decision and review further options it could take with San Jose and neighboring municipalities.

Senior Planner at Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Melissa Cerezo, also voiced her agency’s objections to the project

“VTA has provided consistent and clear input to the city regarding the projects implications for transportation and mobility. VTA submitted comment letters on the traffic and final environmental impact report, and provided public testimony at all five public City Place public sessions and the June 8th public planning commission hearing,” said Cerezo.

Cerezo went on to say that the VTA had been requesting from the city of Santa Clara to assist in transportation safety planning, signal monitoring and maintenance during the construction of the development. “VTA generally supports intensified development near core transit and works with agencies and the developers to help address transportation demands and impacts of redevelopment. However, VTA continues to have significant concerns that have not been addressed,” she added.

Cerezo went on to outline specifics around the transit center improvements that the VTA would like to see, including improved safety measures surrounding streets and direction of traffic.

The final looming issue was the amount of money the developer was willing to commit to the school district. Representatives from the Santa Clara Unified School District presented the to the city and the developer a counter offer letter to settle a number of open items, and voiced a general appreciation for the work Related had done up to that point.

“This is a tremendous project, things are not perfect, they’re not all what we’d like to be, but I think that we’re close enough,” said vice mayor Teresa O’Neill, concluding her remarks. “I’m going to be optimistic and say let’s go ahead and do this, but we have to realize there’s still many areas to work on.”

“The school district hired a consultant to do a study to figure out how many new students City Place would generate, and it was less than 30 students,” said council member Pat Kolstad. “The Related Corporation volunteered to give double the money that is required by law to the school district for their upfront funds.”

He outlined all the funds the district would be receiving in addition to the tax revenue they would receive annually. “This is more than fair and incredibly generous what this developer is doing for the schools, anything beyond that would be really egregious and unfair,” Kolstad concluded.

He also highlighted the money the VTA would be receiving from Related, which was pegged at $17.5 million in addition to the funding the transportation agency will be getting from property taxes and concluded that it would not be appropriate to put additional financial burdens on this single developer in one city.

Council member Kathy Watanabe added, “What I have appreciated over the years is how the Related Company has listened. Every time that a question has come or concern what direction to go, they made sure to reach out to so many of the community to be able to get feedback, and I think that’s really important. They’ve been transparent and open about their plans.”

“We’re doing our share,” said Mayor Lisa Gillmor. “We don’t have the housing imbalance [San Jose does]…but that was their choice, and that’s their community that they planned. We know Santa Clara is a very attractive community, we know over the years our forefathers and mothers put in the infrastructure in our city to encourage business. We can’t help that we’re so attractive!”

This project will be great project for city, she added. And while she acknowledged that San Jose officials have been communicative, she presented a thick file of documents that had been delivered to her office just hours before the meeting. It was the neighboring city’s last ditch effort to influence the decision and a project that will greatly benefit Santa Clara, and none of the council members seemed to appreciate that gesture by San Jose’s attorneys.

All the council members spoke in favor of the project and jointly praised Related for their efforts to close the gaps that were identified during the approval process. In the final minutes of the evening the council voted unanimously and approved the development.

Source: The Registry
http://news.theregistrysf.com/santa-clara-unanimously-approves-relateds-6-7b-city-center-project/

Facebook's campus expansion heightens traffic and housing fears

MENLO PARK -- Facebook's social media empire is rising, and as the tech firm pushes for more office space and a hotel, fears that the growth will drive up housing prices and clog the roads with traffic are climbing too.

Gabriela Murillo, 47, purchased her first home in Menlo Park about 14 years ago, long before the social media giant took over Sun Microsystems' campus off Bayfront Expressway. Since Facebook first moved to the city in 2011, she's noticed her neighborhood has become safer, recalling a time when it was common for security bars to adorn the windows. The value of her home has gone up, too, but she said it's also sad to see neighbors leave because of soaring rents.

When rush hour hits, the roads are already too congested for Murillo to bear.

"I prefer not to go out with a car. If my husband is out already I can ask him to pick up eggs or milk. It takes forever," she said.

Menlo Park isn't the only city that is struggling with housing and traffic woes. Cupertino is dealing with Apple's expansion and Mountain View has both Google and LinkedIn. The booming Bay Area job market fuels traffic throughout the entire region, making it a difficult problem for one city to solve.

"Facebook's arrival to Menlo Park definitely coincided with the overall economy in the region taking off. So a lot of the traffic growth that we've seen not only across Menlo Park, but the South Bay, Peninsula and San Francisco is really due to growth in employment across the entire region," said Nikki Nagaya, Menlo Park's transportation manager.

Working with world-renowed architect Frank Gehry, Facebook wants to build two new office buildings totaling 962,400 square feet, a 200-room limited service hotel, a public green space and a bicycle and pedestrian bridge on the 58 acres it purchased from TE Connectivity. Meanwhile, the company is also converting a 184,460-square-foot warehouse building into office space.

The two new office buildings would hold up to 6,400 employees and the hotel would be staffed with 150 workers. Built in two phases, construction on the project -- if approved -- is expected to be completed by 2020.

Facebook says it works to manage the traffic flowing in and out of its campus. Daily vehicle trips are capped and the company offers other transportation options for its employees, including bikes, trams, shuttles, carpooling and ferries. Partnering with SamTrans, the tech firm is also funding a $1 million study to improve transportation along the Dumbarton corridor, which could help ease regional traffic in the future.

"Facebook is committed to being a good neighbor. We understand that our growth affects the everyday lives of our neighbors, and we want to be respectful and thoughtful about how we approach our expansion. The future of Menlo Park is extremely important to us, which is why we work with city and community leaders to tackle local priorities, including transportation, housing and the environment," the company said in a statement.

About 54 percent of people get to Facebook by making solo trips in a car or motorcycle, which is lower than the city and county average, according to January data from the company. The tech firm has also floated the idea of building thousands of housing units on its campus and a 56-acre site it purchased from Prologis and funded 15 below-market-rate units in the Anton Menlo apartment complex.

But as Facebook expands amid other developments in Menlo Park, traffic in the area is expected to get worse, a draft study on the impact of the project shows. Even with a cap, Facebook's campus expansion could generate 16,329 vehicle trips daily and 13 streets could have "significant" impacts.

Noting that the project for the TE Connectivity site doesn't include housing and that less than 5 percent of Facebook employees live in Menlo Park, the study didn't identify housing and population growth as a major impact. But a separate analysis for the city said Facebook's expansion could have a modest impact on regional housing prices.

Facebook's track record of managing traffic, volunteering, hosting community events and providing donations to local nonprofits and schools might be enough to convince city officials to allow the campus expansion to move forward. As they weigh the costs and benefits, city officials will also negotiate community benefits in an agreement with Facebook.

At a recent Planning Commission meeting about the study, construction workers, nonprofit leaders and some nearby residents said they supported Facebook's expansion.

"Public input is a key part of the decision making. As you saw, there was actually one person who simply put it on the line and said what Facebook does and brings to our community outweighs the elements that are for most part out of their control," said commissioner Henry Riggs in an interview after the meeting. The project is scheduled to go before the Menlo Park City Council for approval in September.

Some Menlo Park workers won't be around to see how Facebook's campus expansion plays out.

For four years, Katie Stern, a second-grade teacher at Beechwood School in Menlo Park, gave herself an hour and half every day to drive to her job from San Francisco.

Looking to buy a home, Stern said she and her husband couldn't find an affordable place closer to Menlo Park with a better commute. The median list price of a home in Menlo Park is about $2 million, according to realtor.com.

The couple decided to move to Novato and Stern is leaving her job at Beechwood after the summer.

"I had several co-workers who were living closer to Beechwood who had to leave the Peninsula and move to the East Bay because their rents tripled," she said.

Starting a new job in San Rafael in the fall, there's one silver lining that comes with moving: a 20-minute commute.

Source: San Jose Mercury, Queenie Wong
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_30059181/facebooks-campus-expansion-heightens-traffic-and-housing-fears

Campbell: Four-story condo and retail project in the works at Del Grande property

Residential developer Cresleigh Homes has eyes on converting a prized 1.63- acre property on East Campbell Avenue to a four-story mixed-use project.

The plan was shared with the Campbell City Council on May 3 during a study session. Cresleigh would like to replace five parcels at 540, 558, 566 E. Campbell Ave. and 24 and 34 Dillon Ave. with a mix of housing and retail.

The so-called Del Grande property is across the street from Campbell Park and between Dillon and Gillman avenues. The property currently has a house, an empty lot and an auto supply and mechanic shop that closed when Paul Del Grande passed away in October 2013 at age 86.

The property is located almost directly between the Pruneyard Shopping Center and the downtown core with VTA light rail stations also within walking distance.

Cresleigh has been meeting and working with the city for several months to prepare a conceptual design. The proposal calls for the ground floor to be dedicated to retail while three floors would hold 60 1-3 bedroom for-sale condominiums, according to the city staff report.

The retail space totals 7,495 square feet and would face Campbell Avenue. There will be 144 internal parking spaces.

Conceptual drawings currently show roof-top garden terraces providing a view of the Campbell Water Tower, the downtown and Campbell Park.

Much of the feedback from residents and the council focused on the project's aesthetics. There was a desire to have the development blend in with the historic downtown rather than have a clashing modern design. Residents living near the property raised concerns about traffic while others and the council addressed a lack of "usable open space." There was a desire to see more than just walkways to doors and terraces for prospective residents.

City staff recommended the development be redesigned to have varying building heights so the development does not appear quite so large. Staff also recommended having a traffic study focus on the impacts of cars circulating in a proposed parking structure on Dillon Avenue.

"This could be an area that invites retail customers to come and visit with lots of parking easily accessible to parts of this complex," Campbell resident Judy Pisano said at the meeting.
The planning commission is tentatively scheduled to review the project during a pre-application hearing on May 24.

"It's really important for us to hear the feelings and desires of the community," said Deana Ellis, Cresleigh Homes vice president of land resources.

Source: Mercury News, Jasmine Leyva
http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=29875089&siteId=568

6 Critical Questions to Ask When Buying New Construction

If you’re in the market for a brand-new home, you’ve got a ton of options. Sales of new homes surged to an eight-year high in 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau, and single-family production is estimated to reach 840,000 units in 2016, an 18 percent increase over 2015, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

Unfortunately for home buyers, new residential construction is coming at a steeper price: Last year the average price of a new home jumped to $351,000, up $100,000 from 2009, reports the NAHB.

Nonetheless, there are still ways you can save when buying a new home. It’s like shopping for a new car: You need the right strategy to nab the best deal.

Ask prospective builders these six questions in order to find the right home at the right price.

“What financial incentives do you offer for using your preferred lender and title company?”

The bad news: Production builders are often reluctant to set a precedent for negotiating sales prices. (Custom builders tend to be more flexible.)

“If a new home is listed for $370,000 and it sells for $360,000, the next buyer in the development is going to want to pay that lower amount,” says Craig Reger, a real estate broker at Keller Williams Realty in Portland, OR. However, many offer handsome incentives to buyers who use their preferred lender and title company.

Some may even knock off up to $10,000 in closing costs, says Peggy Yee, a supervising broker at Frankly Real Estate in Vienna, VA. Others will sweeten the deal by negotiating prices on finishes, such as upgrading carpet to hardwood floors.

You should still shop around and get quotes from at least two other lenders before making your decision. But don’t just pay attention to the interest rates. “You need to compare each loan estimate’s terms to make sure you’re getting an apples-to-apples comparison,” says Chris Dossman, a real estate agent with Century 21 Scheetz in Indianapolis.

“Which are the standard finishes?”

When you tour a development’s model home, keep in mind that you’re previewing a high-end version of the standard home. “The model has all the bells and whistles,” says Dossman. Therefore, you need to find out from the builder which options are standard, which options are upgrades, and what each upgrade costs.

One way to cut costs: Move into the home without an upgrade, then hire a contractor to do the work. “Builders charge a huge markup on certain finishes and products,” says Reger. “The builder might charge $4,000 to $6,000 for a high-performance air conditioner, but you may be able to get another company to install that same unit for as low as $2,500.”

Granted, opting for the latter means you’ll probably need to pay the contractor in cash. “For some people, the benefit of paying the builder to do upgrades is that they can roll the costs into their loan amount,” Reger points out.

“What are your long-term plans for the community?”

Depending on the size of the land, the builder might be planning several subdivisions. This could impact your decision to buy.

For example, let’s assume that only a few homes have been built and sold. If the developer plans to construct an additional 50 homes and you’re one of the first people to move into the neighborhood, you may have to deal with loud construction crews for several months.

There’s also the risk that the builder loses funding and another company takes over the development. Dossman advises proceeding with caution: “If the builder changes and a lower-quality builder takes over, that could affect the value of your home.”

“What are the homeowners association rules and regulations?”

Each homeowners association (HOA) has its own Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) and bylaws. Get these from the builder and review them carefully.

“I’ve seen HOAs that don’t allow storage sheds in the backyard, solar panels, or private fences,” says Reger.

In most cases, the HOA can assess a homeowner penalties for infractions, and some associations are more restrictive than others.

Also, look into when you’re required to start paying HOA dues. Many builders cover the costs until at least 50 percent of the homes in the development are sold, says Yee.

“What warranties do you provide?”

Most builders offer a one-year workmanship warranty and a 10-year structural warranty, says Reger. Make sure the warranties you receive explicitly state what is and isn’t covered, and what the limitations are for damages.

You should also receive manufacturer’s warranties on the washer and dryer, hot water heater, air conditioner, kitchen appliances, and roof.

“Can you connect me with some of your past clients?”

Always check references when vetting home builders, says Dossman. Ask past clients questions such as, “How responsive was the developer when you expressed concerns?” and “Would you use the builder again?”

Caveat: Most builders will only provide glowing references, so you should still scout out some past customers on your own. You can find these people through reviews on Angie’s List, or knock on doors of homes in the neighborhood that have already been built.

Source: Zillow Pourchlight, Daniel Bortz
http://www.zillow.com/blog/buying-new-construction-196960/

Massive high-rise project eyed for downtown San Jose's Greyhound site

San Jose, the heart of the Silicon Valley, is growing and renewing itself and this new development is proof of that in my opinion. As the demand for housing continues, San Jose and the other cities that make up the Silicon Valley area scramble to build more to keep up with demand.



San Jose's Greyhound bus terminal could sprout two residential towers totaling more than 700 units in what would be the largest project by unit count ever proposed for the central business district.

KT Urban, downtown's most prodigious high-rise developer, last week turned in an early concept to the San Jose Planning Department for the roughly 1.6-acre site at 70 S. Almaden Ave., according to city records. The application is preliminary, meaning it is meant merely to gather feedback from staff. But it provides the first public glimpse at what KT envisions for the location, and is a clear signal that the redevelopment of the parcel is moving forward, five months after I first reported that KT was in contract to buy the land from Greyhound.

Mark Tersini, principal with Cupertino-based KT Urban, declined to comment. Greyhound, which is hoping to move its bus terminal to Diridon Station, didn't return a request for comment.

The newest proposal comes at the end of a very busy year for residential development downtown, with several high-rise and mid-rise projects breaking ground and entering the development pipeline. Downtown development blogger Mark Haney counts 4,516 units proposed and 1,898 under construction, most of them rentals, in the central core. Right across the street from the Greyhound site, Simeon Residential Properties is seeking approval for a 21-story, 202-unit apartment complex.

And it's just the latest tower design from KT, which built the Axis condo tower, developed the One South Market apartment high-rise and spearheaded the 643-unit Silvery Towers complex, now under construction across from San Pedro Square Market.

The KT Urban concept would see a 24-story and a 23-story tower resting on three levels of underground parking. The plans show multiple potential orientations for the buildings, including east/west and north/south layouts, and it's unclear which direction the developer will be going. One tower would include 294 units, while the other would have 414. The buildings could reach 241 and 251 feet tall.

Also not nailed down: The architecture. The design firm is C2K, which has done KT Urban's other projects. Two large renderings included in the preliminary application show different facades: In one, a glassy skin resembles the One South Market look, with some vertical and horizontal elements breaking up the massing. In the other, a brick facade gives the building more texture between windows.

While much remains unclear, the site is primed for its next act. Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association, called the block one of the best spots in the district, with a location that's smack dab in the middle of downtown's office towers, museums and hotels. Yet it has remained a hole in downtown's fabric even as projects have gone up around it in recent years. He also welcomed the proposal's focus on the ground floor, with perhaps 13,500 square feet of retail mostly on Post Street.

"Looking at the ground floor orientation, this preliminary application is by far the strongest of the recent initial project submissions in terms of recognizing the street level activation," Knies said. "This appropriately puts the front door of the project on Post Street. We think, long term, that’s going to be an important street in the downtown."

One priority, he said, is that the design reflect an evolution from C2K's other projects in the city. "Hopefully, a different statement can be made with the Greyhound site, particularly because it would be the largest housing proposal in downtown's history," Knies said.

Big, but complex, site
While large, the development site covers only one hard corner of the block, at Post Street and Almaden Avenue. Other property owners own existing commercial buildings that border West San Fernando Street and the corner of Post and San Pedro streets, and the proposal doesn't include those buildings.

Developers always want to largest canvas on which to build, but KT has worked around pieces before. On Silvery Towers a couple of blocks away, KT designed two towers that wrap around the historic Fallon House.

Yet KT is clearly trying to grab more of the Greyhound block. The company made an unsolicited offer to buy the defunct Plaza Hotel from the city's former Redevelopment Agency for $900,000, according to a successor agency staff report. The city of San Jose's Housing Department hopes to buy the hotel for $750,000, rehabilitate it and use the property to house the formerly homeless for several years. The agency's oversight board meets Thursday to discuss the sale, one of a slew of sites around the city that the successor agency is selling by state mandate.

The proposal comes at an interesting time for downtown development. A city incentive for downtown residential high rises is expiring soon, meaning that the Greyhound site would move forward in a new economic climate. (An exception for affordable housing fees still applies to downtown project, however.)

"This is a strong sign of downtown’s emergence, that we’re seeing serious high rise developers moving forward without any assurance of fee reductions," San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo told me.

While some observers have called for San Jose to reserve key development sites for future office towers, Liccardo said he's fine with the Greyhound site going residential.

"As long as a developer wants to build tall and incorporate an attractive urban design, I’m not going to quibble over whether it’s residential or office," Liccardo said. "Those are conversations in future years that certainly are worth having. We’re at a very mature point in the economic cycle, and it’s important for me to take advantage of the momentum we have by allowing the market to drive the development."

What's next
KT Urban has not yet closed on the land. It's possible the transaction is contingent upon Greyhound finding another location at Diridon.

The deal, if completed, would take another downtown major downtown site off the table. That is likely to increase attention on remaining underused development opportunities, such as the so-called "Valley Title" block at 300 S. First St., the VTA's three-acre "Mitchell Block" (between Market and First streets and Santa Clara and St. John streets), and a huge parking lot owned by Boston Properties across from the convention center. There are also smaller pieces, such as the long-boarded-up former bank building at 200 Park Ave., a key entrance to downtown, where rumors of projects regularly rise and fall.

But all of that momentum is contingent on rents continuing to grow, which is not guaranteed. That means there will be much focus on the performance of the next project entering lease-up: Simeon's Centerra, a 21-story, 347-unit tower that begins move-ins this month.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal, Nathan Donato-Weinstein
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/12/08/massive-high-rise-project-eyed-for-downtown-san.html

New home for Bay 101: Demolition to start by end of year on future cardroom site

The Bay 101 Club is an iconic Silicon Valley casino that is clearly visible from the 101 freeway. Local residences have been going there for years to satisfy their gambling addiction and now the City of San Jose gave approval for the owners to relocate the business across the freeway to an area where a hotel now sits. The new card club will be a casino and hotel and in the site of the old Bay 101, it will get torn down and new housing will get put up in its place.

With city planning approvals in hand, owners of San Jose’s Bay 101 card club aren’t wasting any time prepping for construction of a new casino and hotel complex valued at up to $100 million.

Sometime in November, wrecking balls will make make short work of the sprawling, 512-room San Jose Airport Garden Hotel — a 56-year-old landmark on North First Street that Bay 101’s owners bought in 2013. In its place: a roughly 70,000-square-foot card room and seven story, 174-room hotel.

“I think it will do that corner proud,” said Brian Bumb, whose family owns Bay 101. “The first two things that are going there will really enhance the area.”

The new project comes as Bay 101 faces a 2017 lease expiration at its current home at 1801 Bering Drive, a short distance from the new development site. That location is destined to be redeveloped as part of a planned office campus from development firm Peery Arrillaga. The city granted planning permits for the new Bay 101 project earlier this month, said Erik Schoennauer, a development consultant who is working with Bay 101. I first reported on the project two years ago.

The new Bay 101, slated for completion in the fall of 2017, will still have the same number of card tables as the old one (49), but Bumb said: “It’ll be a little different layout and a little more spread out. We are going to try to do a high-end restaurant and capitalize on everything that’s happening on in the North First Street area.”

Bumb said no agreement with a hotel brand has been reached, but said that a deal should be finalized by next May, when construction begins to go vertical. A second approved hotel, which would rise 10 stories and include 150 rooms, would come later. He estimated the total price tag for the first phase at $90 million to $100 million.

The project could eventually also include an office building of up to 250,000 square feet and 12 stories, which would also be built in a later phase, Bumb said.

First things first, though. The San Jose Airport Garden Hotel will close Nov. 7, and then Bumb said he has about 10 days “to get everything out of there: 500 beds, 500 refrigerators, headboards, end tables. There’s just a lot of stuff.” Bumb is working with Habitat for Humanity to try to donate some of the furniture. Demolition should start in earnest in December.

Barry Swenson Builder is the general contractor for the project and Kenneth Rodrigues & Partners Inc. is doing the design.

Bay 101 is one of two major cardrooms in San Jose. The other is Casino M8trix, which opened a glitzy new facility down the street from the new Bay 101 site in 2012.

The cardrooms have not always been popular with San Jose politicians, and attempts to increase the number of card tables have failed. Bay 101 was looking at moving to Milpitas last year, but that plan died when when a Milpitas citizens' group successfully campaigned against a Milpitas ballot measure that would have helped pave the way.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal, Nathan Donato-Weinstein
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/09/09/new-home-for-bay-101-demolition-to-start-by-end-of.html