The future of a Santa Clara shopping center that’s a mainstay of the city’s Asian American community may be in jeopardy as a national developer pushes for housing to replace it.
Georgia-based PulteGroup wants to transform the Homestead Shopping Center into a 147-townhome development, complete with about 20 affordable homes and 341 parking spaces. The three- and four-story project, located at 3521 and 3591 Homestead Road, also includes nearly 5,000 square feet of commercial space. More than 10 storefronts in the existing shopping center would be demolished, including one of the city’s only Korean supermarkets and Chinese herbal medicine shops — and small business owners aren’t leaving without a fight.
Businesses that could be forced to move include Super Kyo-Po Plaza, Fuheng Herbs, Han Tang Wellness & Acupuncture Center, Indian restaurant Kappa and Homestead Wash & Dry. The Santa Clara City Council will likely still need to review the project before PulteGroup can redevelop the shopping center. Business owners who spoke with San José Spotlight said they received notice last February to leave within about a year.
Fuheng Herbs owner Dalong Zhang is part of a group of small businesses that started a petition against the project to preserve the shopping center some have called home for more than a decade. He said the redevelopment could significantly affect not only his livelihood and the customers who travel hours to his store, but the hundreds of people who work in the center. He added the project’s commercial space is not enough, especially for a city where the majority of residents are Asian American. More than 40% of Santa Clara residents identify as Asian American, according to U.S. Census data.
“This place is the heart of Santa Clara,” Zhang told San José Spotlight. “(If we) change it to the townhouse (project), (we) lose heart (and are) going to die quickly.”
PulteGroup did not respond to requests for comment.
Zhang and other small business owners, including Ling Ling Yang, met with District 5 Councilmember Suds Jain Wednesday to voice their concerns. Yang owns Chinese restaurant JX Cuisine, which has been in the shopping center for more than 10 years. She said she doesn’t know what to tell her employees because it’s difficult and costly to move.
“If you close here, building townhouses, the people don’t have money,” Yang told San José Spotlight. “Who can buy this house (then)?”
Jain said it’s a tough situation because California laws limit local jurisdictions’ power over development.
Councilmembers could deny it based on an environmental impact report, but the development may not need to provide that due to recent changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. Other state laws give developers breaks as the state focuses on increasing housing. Santa Clara has to account for 11,632 homes by 2031 to meet state mandates.
Jain said the businesses, their employees and customers will be severely affected by this development if it moves forward.
“It’s a big problem because the state has just taken over control and said residential is the high priority,” Jain said during the meeting with business owners.
Other developers have plans to replace shopping centers with housing in the city. Toll Brothers wants to transform the Moonlite Shopping Center along El Camino Real into townhomes and multiple high-rise condo buildings.
That trend is concerning to Zhang, who said he will keep fighting to preserve Homestead Shopping Center and all of the services it provides. He plans to attend a community meeting about the proposed development hosted by PulteGroup Nov. 13 from 6-7 p.m. in the cafeteria at City Hall.
“Who takes care of small businesses?” Zhang said. “(This is the) first time a councilor (has) come here. Nobody takes care (of us).”
Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X.
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