City of San Jose Greenlights Borello Builder’s Remedy

The City of San Jose has given the green light to a mid-rise housing project on the city’s western edge near Cupertino.

Borello Asset Management has received the go-ahead to build a seven-story, 118-unit residential building on a 0.7-acre lot at 1000 South De Anza Boulevard, the Mercury News reported. The Morgan Hill-based firm will demolish an existing 2,658-square-foot commercial building to construct the new homes.

Borello submitted its preliminary development application in June 2023. At the time, San Jose’s housing element was not in compliance with state requirements, leaving an opportunity for the developer to take advantage of the builder’s remedy process.

Illustrationn of seven-story, 118-unit housing development at 1000 S. De Anza Blvd. — (LPMD Architects)

Under builder’s remedy, any policies, ordinances, fees and standards in effect at the time of the application are locked into place. The city was also forced to evaluate the proposal as if it met land-use designation and zoning district requirements due to builder’s remedy, though city project manager Alec Atienza said the project site was in a zoning district that would not allow housing unless it was 100 percent affordable or the applicant used another state law to proceed with development.

Borello’s plan calls for 44 studios, 42 one-bedroom apartments and 32 two-bedroom units. Of the 118 units, 24 will be available at 80 percent of the area’s median income. In 2025, the area median income for one person in Santa Clara County is $136,650. Construction could begin early next year and take about 14 months to complete, according to an environmental impact report released earlier this year.

The project has faced pushback from neighbors living on nearby Ventana Place.

“If the ground sinks or settles due to excessive vibrations or from the activity of lots of heavy equipment and machinery, the integrity of the post-tension slab at Ventana could be compromised, leading to potential catastrophic structural failures,” Becky Bender, president of the Ventana Place Homeowners Association, said. “The ramifications would not only endanger the lives of Ventana Place residents, but also result in astronomical, multi-million-dollar repair costs that may not even fully restore the structure.”

Erik Schoennauer, a land-use consultant representing the developer, tried to assuage those fears by noting that the environmental report included requirements to limit noise impacts and pointed out that construction vibrations wouldn’t affect the nearby townhome buildings. He also addressed concerns that the seven-story building would stand out among shorter buildings along De Anza Boulevard.

“The city’s plan is that a street like De Anza will be all seven stories some day,” Schoennauer said. “That’s the plan adopted by the City Council for decades, so our project, just because it’s one of the earliest ones, is not out of place.”— Chris Malone Méndez