San Jose wants to make it easier to convert its underused office buildings into housing with new financial incentives. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to expand an existing housing incentive program covering downtown residential high-rise projects to include conversion projects with at least 20 new homes. The city will cut certain fees and taxes for...
UPDATE: San Jose eases housing development requirements
The San Jose City Council has approved a trio of housing measures intended to spur local development by adjusting certain requirements that homebuilders say have stymied new projects. Two of the measures expand incentive programs that reduce construction taxes and ease affordable housing requirements for developers. A third measure revamps San Jose’s inclusionary housing policy,...
Mountain View Planning Commission backs 8-story apartment
Plans for an eight-story apartment building are taking shape in the East Whisman area of Mountain View, a part of the city that is better known for office buildings and surface parking lots than high-density housing. The applicant, Jeffrey Stone of WTA Middlefield, is proposing to build a 460-unit apartment complex with nearly 9,400 square feet of...
VTA to bring thousands of homes online
An effort to develop housing at public transit stations in Santa Clara County has awakened after being dormant for decades — and is expected to rake in lease profits and fuel train ridership. VTA leaders next week will open the doors to their first new public transit-oriented apartment complex in 20 years, between the Willow...
West San Jose to get Costco after judge tosses lawsuit
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge has tossed a lawsuit seeking to block plans to bring a new Costco to a West San Jose shopping center. The decision clears the way for the hotly contested development project to move forward. The suit, backed by a resident group known as West Valley Citizens for Responsible...
Cupertino not meeting its housing goals
Cupertino is falling short in its state-mandated housing goals as developers roll out projects with fewer homes than expected. The upshot is Cupertino will have to add more high-density projects — a move not likely to be popular in a community that frequently resists multifamily housing. Like many California cities, Cupertino is caught between state...
East San Jose community development ready to break ground
East San Jose is about to see its multimillion-dollar dream project become reality. La Placita will transform a neglected 28,000-square-foot commercial building across from Mexican Heritage Plaza. The space will be rebuilt into a cultural community hub with a theater, cafe and family wellness center operated by Gardner Health Services. The School of Arts and...
Developer for Los Gatos project warns of legal costs
The developer of a proposed 13-story apartment building in Los Gatos warned the Town Council last week of potential legal costs for blocking the project, even though the council says the developer’s application is moving forward. “I respectfully want to tell you the town’s multiple lawsuits (related to housing construction), including attempting to block this...
Willow Glen 7-story development moves forward
Willow Glen residents are expressing bitter disappointment after a proposed seven-story residential building in their neighborhood gained a permit under a state law streamlining housing development. The decision — made during the Dec. 3 San Jose Planning Director Hearing — clears the way for San Francisco-based Redco Development to build 126 apartments on a roughly...
Cupertino Vallco development reduces its affordable housing
The developer of a massive residential, office and retail development at the former Vallco shopping mall in Cupertino is reducing affordable housing by 60% and office space by 25% to make the project “financially feasible.” Sand Hill Property Company delivered a revised plan to Cupertino’s city manager Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving, and the...