True Life takes aim at swim and tennis club for 85 homes

True Life Companies wants to replace a 67-year-old swim and tennis club in San Jose with 85 homes.

The Denver-based developer has filed plans to bulldoze the San Jose Swim & Racquet Club at 1170 Pedro Street and build 85 “attached homes” in Willow Glen, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The 3.3-acre recreation complex, founded in 1956, is owned by San Jose-based Norman Laviere Trust. Its seven tennis courts and two pools have been used by generations of local residents.

“San Jose Swim & Racquet Club is a private, three-and-a-half acre oasis located between the Rose Garden and Willow Glen,” the swim and tennis center says on its website. “Our club features year-round tennis, fitness, swimming pools, bocce ball, and other fun activities for the entire family.”

Neither True Life, the Norman Laviere Trust nor the racquet club responded to requests for comment by the Mercury News.

True Life, founded in 2008 and led by Scott Clark, says it seeks innovative ways to build housing, and is active mostly in California and other western states, according to its website. The developer lists 11 Bay Area projects in San Jose, Hayward, Milpitas, Morgan Hill, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Sunnyvale and Calistoga.

“We choose cities eager for new housing solutions that serve new generations, cities that are seeking long-lasting solutions and recognize the opportunity The True Life Companies offers to answer their housing needs,” the company says on its website.

In February, True Life filed plans to build 57 townhomes at 612 South Main Street in Milpitas. 

Last April, the developer secured nearly $80 million in loans from Madison Realty Capital for two projects with a total of more than 100 townhomes homes in Sunnyvale and Hayward.

In September 2021, True Life scored a $105 million construction loan from Madison to build a  189-unit townhome-condo development, also in Hayward.

— Dana Bartholomew