Saratoga residents and developer come to terms on project

Saratoga residents living next to a former vineyard that’s about to be transformed into homes have reached an uneasy truce over the project, clearing the way for the developer to reap a $79 million profit by selling the site to a nationwide homebuilder.

When City Connect Companies of San Jose proposed 231 homes on the 12-acre site two years ago, it provoked a firestorm of criticism from neighbors in the affluent community. After tempers cooled, most residents have reluctantly accepted a scaled-down plan of 64 homes — with 52 single-family residences and 12 accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as in-law quarters or backyard homes.

“I think it was a win-win, because the original proposal was for significantly more housing in a relatively small area,” Saratoga Mayor Chuck Page told San José Spotlight. “The roads aren’t built to accommodate that kind of traffic … (The current project) is much more befitting of the neighborhood and, while it may not be ideal in the eyes of everyone, to me it makes a lot of sense.”

The Saratoga City Council approved the project on May 6.

The saga began when the Bellicitti family, which owned the vineyard for more than a century, decided to sell.

Thomas J. Wilson of City Connect and his partners got an option to purchase the site on Chester Avenue at Allendale Avenue. They tapped the state builder’s remedy law, which allows developers to bypass local restrictions when a city is failing to meet its housing goals, to propose the high-density 231-home plan.

“I became Public Enemy No. 1,” Wilson, who was born in Saratoga, told San José Spotlight. “Neighbors (of the vineyard) found out where I lived (in San Jose’s Willow Glen). They found out where my kids go to school, at the middle school and the elementary school. They put signs up about me at both my kids’ schools with my personal cell phone number (saying) I was going to destroy Willow Glen. They also had (signs) all up throughout Saratoga, and it wasn’t just on one occasion. It was several occasions.”

James Atwell has lived on a hill above the vineyard for 35 years and  is part of an informal group of about eight residents who fought the plan.

He and another neighbor — Bernie Mills — decided to take a chance on talking to Wilson to see if there could be a compromise. An initial get-together at a local Starbucks in late 2024 was followed by several more meetings, culminating in Wilson agreeing last year to a much smaller 64-home project, now called Vineyard One. But some in the group still pushed back.

“Finally, Bernie and I just put it to the neighborhood, ‘Do you want to support Tom with 52 homes here, or do you guys want to keep fighting?’ We got unanimous support,” Atwell told San José Spotlight.

Wilson, who got an option to purchase the land in June 2023, bought the parcel in June 2025 for $31 million. He said the phone was ringing off the hook earlier this year with offers from major builders to buy the yet-to-be-started project.

On July 3, City Connect announced it was selling Vineyard One to Lennar Corp., a nationwide homebuilder, for $110 million —  giving Wilson and his partners a profit of $79 million before the cost of entitlement, design and legal fees.

“Did we sell (to Lennar) for what we could have sold it at 231 units? Heck no. That number was much larger, but that’s OK. We’re not in it to squeeze every dollar out,” Wilson told San José Spotlight. “We want to build and develop and entitle really good projects that work. I really attribute (this to) the calm, cool and collected community members that reached out to us.”

Wilson singled out Atwell as the neighbor most influential in forging a compromise.

“I would say (the process) worked even better than it was supposed to, because we could have had a developer give us the middle finger and I’m not sure we could have done anything,” Atwell told San José Spotlight.

Wilson said the 52 single-family homes are likely to sell in the $4 million range, with Lennar expected to start construction soon.

“Our neighborhood is divided on the outcome, but we’ve made significant progress to reach this point,” Jerry Schaaf, who lives across from the vineyard, told San José Spotlight. “We anticipate that Lennar will deliver a high-quality development that aligns with our neighborhood’s expectations.”

But Alison Cingolani, director of policy for the housing advocacy group SV@Home, sees a downside.

“I think it’s quite a missed opportunity,” Cingolani told San José Spotlight. “That’s 167 potential homes that we lost out on, including types of housing that are typically more accessible than a single-family home, like a town home.”

Contact Mike Langberg at [email protected].