Lori Greymont to Replace SJ Antique Row With Senior Housing

TV real estate host Lori Greymont wants to bulldoze a historic antiques row in a newly annexed part of San Jose to build a seven-story senior housing complex with condominiums.

The “Deal Diva” of “Funding Faceoff” on the Bargain House Network heads Oak Glen Ventures, which won approval from San Jose’s Planning Commission to demolish a strip of antique shops on West San Carlos Street in the neighborhood of Burbank, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

The demolition approval came seven months after the San Jose City Council voted to annex West San Carlos Street to replace the antique shops with homes.

The Palmdale-based developer got the go-ahead to tear down the Main Street-style shops doing business for decades at 1881, 1883-1887, 1891-1895 and 1897-1899 West San Carlos, and 13 and 17 Boston Avenue.

Plans call for combining the parcels into a 1.2-acre site to build a 227,600-square-foot complex to be dubbed San Carlos Commons.

The project, designed by Santa Clara-based Salvatore Caruso Design, would include a 246-bed senior-living facility, 61 condominiums and four ground-floor storefronts to be sold to retail businesses.

Instead of including affordable housing, Oak Glen would pay an in-lieu housing fee, architect Sal Caruso said during the commission’s Sept. 13 hearing.

The buildings containing Burbank Antiques at 1893 West San Carlos, and Annette’s Antiques, Briarwood’s Antiques and Memory Lane Antiques at 1883-1887 West San Carlos are eligible for city landmark status. The 9,000-square-foot Antiques Colony at 1881 West San Carlos has 50 dealers and claims to be the largest antique store in the South Bay.

But commissioners decided a need for housing outweighs historic preservation.

“Obviously the housing need for seniors is great,” Commissioner Sylvia Ornelas-Wise Ornelas-Wise said. “And even though there are historical structures that would be demolished, the housing need is more important.”

Once it secures demolition permits, Oak Glen intends to give the antique business owners 90 rent-free days to close up shop, Greymont, who runs the San Jose Real Estate Investors Association, told San Jose Spotlight.

Greymont, who claims to have bought and sold more than 2,000 properties, is interviewing construction firms for the project, she told the Business Journal. She said Oak Glen Ventures is still trying to raise funding to build it. A timeline for demolition and construction is unclear.

“We are looking at all options regarding financing,” Greymont, who lives in Las Vegas, told the newspaper. “Our chief focus is to find a top-tier senior-living operator.”

— Dana Bartholomew