Milpitas needs to build thousands of homes in the next eight years and is eyeing old retail spaces and offices to reach its goal. The Milpitas City Council is giving input tonight on proposed zoning changes to streamline redevelopment of five identified commercial sites, referred to as Housing Opportunity Districts, which would provide more land...
Vacant Sunnyvale hotels to become a parking lot
Two Sunnyvale hotels that have sat vacant for more than a year are slated for demolition and will be replaced with a private parking lot. Zoning Administrator George Schroeder approved plans at a hearing last week for San Francisco-based Prologis to build a ground level, 90-space surface parking lot for commercial fleets at 331 and 385...
San Jose looks to cut costs at homeless housing sites
San Jose leaders are looking to cut costs while continuing to fund temporary housing solutions, a main approach of the mayor’s plan to solve homelessness. City officials are proposing several detailed recommendations to overhaul San Jose’s interim housing programs while simultaneously trimming costs, including eliminating private security during the daytime. The San Jose City Council...
Sunnyvale officials examine homeless services results
Sunnyvale is spending the next six months determining if its existing homeless support services are sufficient for its unhoused residents. Homeless service provider HomeFirst agreed to a six-month extension of its existing pilot program with the city, contingent on city officials receiving detailed data about sheltered bed usage for its homeless residents. The program’s contract...
Downtown San Jose office vacancies hit 10-year high
Downtown San Jose’s commercial vacancy rates are the highest they’ve been in more than a decade, according to a new report. While development is slowly increasing across the city, real estate agents are struggling to find renters or tenants to fill the spaces. About 24% of commercial space in San Jose was empty during the...
San Jose could allow homeless residents to sleep outdoors
San Jose is considering adding safe sleeping sites to its long-running list of homelessness responses—an idea officials have shot down before. Amid the city declaring homelessness an emergency last week, local leaders want supervised outdoor living spaces with supportive services for the city’s unhoused residents. Safe sleeping sites are already in place in San Diego and...
Apartments could fill empty downtown San Jose storefronts
The owners of a luxury downtown San Jose apartment complex want to transform the building’s commercial space into more housing after struggling to find business tenants. Houston-based The Hanover Company is seeking approval at a San Jose Planning Director’s hearing on Wednesday to make the change in its building at 715 W. Julian Street, just off...
San Jose foster youth hub ready for construction
An affordable housing development centered on homeless foster youth will break ground in San Jose next month. The San Jose City Council approved nearly $40 million in state bonds on Tuesday to construct 81 affordable apartments—with half reserved for foster youth ages 15-24—on Parkmoor Avenue near San Jose City College. The remaining apartments will be...
A win for San Jose: VTA approves homeless housing site
After a monthslong debate between local leaders, North San Jose is set to receive 200 temporary homes for homeless residents. The VTA board of directors unanimously approved building the homes at its Cerone bus yard on Thursday. The consensus by the 12-person board comes as a surprise after deep political divides and ongoing disputes threatened...
Will downtown San Jose church become historic landmark?
A downtown San Jose church is on the cusp of becoming a historic landmark, potentially ending a yearslong battle to shield the 1940s-era building from redevelopment. The San Jose City Council will vote in the next few weeks to designate Grace Baptist Church as a historic landmark—protecting it, ideally, indefinitely. Councilmember Omar Torres’ request for the...