Valley Oak Partners gets nod for 242 homes in Sunnyvale

Valley Oak Partners has received a green light to build 242 homes on the site of a former Orchard Supply Hardware store in Sunnyvale.

The San Jose-based developer was approved by the city Planning Commission to construct 80 townhomes and 162 apartments at 777 Sunnyvale Saratoga Road, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The 5.3 acre site is owned by Mardit Properties, based in the city, according to SFYimby.

Valley Oak filed plans early this year to build the three-story townhouses and a seven-story apartment building designed by Studio T Square, based in Oakland.

Plans for the white and brown complex also call for 2,050 square feet of ground-floor shops and restaurants.

The developer would employ Senate Bill 330 to streamline its approval in exchange for 12 units of affordable housing for moderate-income tenants, 16 units for low-income renters and eight units for very-low income households.

Planning Commission Chair Nathan Iglesias said the project will add much-needed housing to the southern part of the city. Sunnyvale must also allow the development in order to comply with a state housing mandate that the city plan to build 11,966 homes by 2031, he said.

“We are in a housing crisis and this is a very nice solution in an area that probably should be built up,” Iglesias told the commission.

In the past few years, the city has approved new apartments in its downtown and along major roads like El Camino Real. Construction is also underway on 176 homes near the CalTrain station, according to the Mercury News.

Not all residents approved of the 242 homes destined for Sunnyvale Saratoga Road.

A resident who identified herself only as Kim said the area is too small to house such a large development. She worried the proposed seven-story buildings will loom over the city and “stick out like a sore thumb.”

“I have not met any other resident who is in favor of (the) so-called Manhattanization of the city,” she told the planning commission.

Valley Oak Partners, founded in 2008, is led by Greg Poncetta, Mark Russell and Stephen Fisher, according to state business records.

It was launched by Poncetta, a senior vice president at CBRE, and has bought redeveloped or is processing approvals for more than 2,300 homes and 1.5 million square feet of commercial building, according to Thesis Driven, a developer database.

In November, the firm moved forward with a plan to replace a 164,600-square-foot office campus with 737 apartments and townhomes at 211, 251 and 281 River Oaks Parkway in North San Jose.

In March of last year, the developer filed plans to redevelop part of Oracle’s office and research campus in Santa Clara into more than 500 homes. Plans call for 416 townhomes, 120 apartments and 48 single-family homes on 38 acres at 4120 Network Circle.

In 2022, Valley Oak paid $22 million for 6 acres near South Third and Keyes street in Downtown San Jose that could be turned into an industrial or commercial center. A year earlier, the firm spent $16 million on on four sites in Milpitas, Campbell and San Jose
— Dana Bartholomew