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South San Jose housing project with 328 units wins preliminary approval
Developer plans to compensate for exceeding city’s commute-mileage guidelines
A local developer has won preliminary approval to build 328 apartments in South San Jose.
Republic Urban Properties, based in San Jose, got a nod from the city’s Planning Commission to build a mixed-use apartment building plus an affordable housing complex at 605 Blossom Hill Road, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.
The Blossom Station Hill development would include a six-story building and a five-story complex on a Valley Transportation Authority light rail station parking lot east of Highway 85 and Blossom Hill Road.
The six-story building will include 239 market-rate apartments and 13,590 square feet of ground floor shops and restaurants. The five-story building will include 89 affordable apartments.
The project, designed by San Jose-based Swenson, includes two buildings in white, taupe and caramel, with the larger complex featuring a central courtyard, according to renderings.
About 300 parking spaces will be included in the market rate building, with 212 surface slots set aside for transit riders.
The developer expects to break ground in 2024 and complete the $118 million project in 2026.
Republic Urban Properties, a unit of Republic Family of Companies based in Connecticut, won a bid to develop the 7.4-acre VTA property in 2017 and signed a ground lease for the project in 2020, according to Michael Van Every, the company’s president and managing partner.
Republic Urban expected its development proposal to be approved in 90 to 180 days through the fasttrack process allowed under SB 35, which streamlines projects near public transit with affordable units.
But a preliminary environmental impact report found the average resident at Blossom Station Hill would have to commute an average of 13.3 miles, which is above city guidelines. That triggered a full environmental review, delaying a Planning Commission vote by 15 months.
“It was a big surprise. But all’s well that ends well,” Van Every told the Business Times. “We feel blessed that the Planning Commission and the community accepted the project.”
If the City Council approves Blossom Hill Station, Republic Urban will make $3.1 million in improvements to streets and the nearby Coyote Creek trail to compensate for exceeding city guidelines.
– Dana Bartholomew
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