Robson Homes wants to beat eggs into housing in San Jose.
The locally based developer has filed plans to bulldoze the 75-year-old Olivera Egg Ranch to make way for 25 single-family homes at 3315 Sierra Road, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.
Tanya Olivera, who runs the ranch store selling eggs, live chickens and convenience goods, said her father wants to retire and is selling out. The 2.7-acre ranch is in escrow for an undisclosed price. Its store is slated to close at the end of next month.
“There’s nothing of value in San Jose except housing, unfortunately,” Olivera, whose grandfather, Ed Olivera Sr., bought the land in 1949, when it was an apricot orchard, told the Business Journal. “There’s no such thing as open space anymore.”
The ranch sits inside the Berryessa, a neighborhood that encircles the clucking chickens with homes. Silicon Valley, once covered with orchards, was known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.”
Plans call for 25 single-family homes, with up to five including accessory dwelling units, or granny flats, according to a city report. Twenty-one homes would have two stories, with four containing two and a half stories.
The homes would range between 2,000 and 2,800 square feet, with eight different housing plans. Each home would include a two-car garage.
Robson, founded in 1989 by Mark Robson, was among the largest home builders in Silicon Valley last year, with an average closing price of $3.2 million, according to the Business Journal.
This month, Houston-based Hanover Company bought the 22-acre Tsukuda Fruit Stand and persimmon orchard in north San Jose for $78.3 million, planning to replace the 118-year-old farm with nearly 1,500 homes.
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