Developer Related Companies recently finished two apartment buildings in Santa Clara totaling about 5.5 acres, but its 240-acre mixed-use project designed to change the city’s landscape has been stalled for years.
Officials from Related Companies and Santa Clara celebrated the opening of The Clara and Ellore last week — two high-rises that will bring 508 apartments, 176 senior homes and a half-acre public park to the East Tasman neighborhood. On the other side of Lafayette Street is the future site of Related Santa Clara, which promises a thousand more homes, retail and other amenities, once the project gets underway.
Related Santa Clara hasn’t been updated in more than a year, when the developers announced they’d be changing about 4 million square feet of office space into 1.6 million square feet of light industrial. Related spokesperson Evette Davis said the company filed those changes with the city last January and is expecting to go through the city’s approval process this summer.
The project is located right across Tasman Drive from Levi’s Stadium. The developers are planning to build an entire community from the ground up, bringing in 1,680 new homes and 800,000 square feet of space for retail, restaurants and entertainment.
“This mixed-use development is expected to provide jobs and generate revenue for the city for years to come,” Related California Chief Operating Officer Nick Vanderboom told San José Spotlight.
The development was scheduled to break ground in 2022 and has been in the works since 2015, but saw repeated delays from a push against paying prevailing wages, COVID-19 and litigation from San Jose.
Santa Clara spokesperson Janine De la Vega said the city Planning Commission will review the updated plans in late spring or early summer, after which they will go before the Santa Clara City Council. If the changes are approved, the city will need to review Related’s development plan before construction can begin.
District 1 Councilmember Albert Gonzalez, whose district includes both projects, said he’s eager for Related Santa Clara to come back to council for approval and break ground. He saw trucks moving dirt on the project’s lot, indicating the developer is ready to do pre-construction work, but can’t move forward until the city approves the resubmitted permits.
The project includes many benefits for his district’s residents, including retail amenities such as grocery stores. Gonzalez is glad to see the increase in development across his district and hopes it brings other improvements, like beautifying Lafayette Street or improving the Caltrain and VTA transit hub.
“It’s really going to be a destination, you’re not just going to go there for a game,” Gonzalez told San José Spotlight, referring to Levi’s Stadium.
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X.
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