A new housing development is one step closer to transforming the corner of a major Sunnyvale road that’s home to car sales lot.
The Sunnyvale Planning Commission unanimously voted Monday to allow De Anza Properties and property owners to change their 111-home project to a mix of roughly 85 owned condos and 25 apartments for rent. Commissioners already approved the project plans in 2024, which include a 7-story building with 31,361 square feet of commercial space located at 1104 and 1124 W. El Camino Real. De Anza Properties had to come back to the commission to change most of the apartments to condos due to financing. The 3.56-acre development is one of the first recently reviewed with a mix of owned and rented homes.
The development also includes plans for five single-family homes. It would demolish 25,232 square feet of commercial space, including the existing car lot. The project will add to the vision of the major thoroughfare for the next 20 to 30 years under the 2022 El Camino Real specific plan.
Planning Commission Vice Chair Neela Shukla supported the change because of the unique split between rented and owned homes. She said it’s an opportunity for the city to diversify its housing, even though the developer could potentially turn the remaining apartments into condos.
“I am just very happy that we are making this as a model, first project in the city which has rental units and… owner representative units,” Shukla said at the meeting.
De Anza Properties also applied to pay an in-lieu fee to the city’s Housing and Mitigation Fund, rather than make 15% of its project affordable per city requirements. The fund has $30 million, according to city officials, and can be used to further affordable housing initiatives. De Anza Properties would pay roughly $17 million into the fund. The City Council must approve the request before the project moves forward.
De Anza Properties has been working on the development for years. John Vidovich, head of the company, said the changes are necessary to ensure the project’s fiscal viability in a shifting market.
“It’s taken a long, long time also, and we’d like to get it going,” Vidovich said at the meeting. “It’s going to be very, very difficult. These are big condominiums, and I’m hoping that will satisfy the need for families.”
The project will add to Sunnyvale’s housing stock on a site that’s been used as a new and used car sales lot since 1964, according to city documents. Sunnyvale must build at least 11,966 homes by 2031 to comply with state housing mandates, 6,709 of which must be affordable.
Gail Rubino, resident and member of advocacy group Livable Sunnyvale, is glad the planning commission approved the change. She said it could help residents transition from renting to ownership if the developer shifts the remaining apartments to condos.
“The more people own things, the better,” she told San José Spotlight. “This is a great opportunity for people to own incidentally.”
Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X.
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