NIMBYs Fight Plan for Apartments Near San Jose’s Santana Row

“Ugly, ugly, ugly.”

That’s what some residents of west San Jose said about a plan by VCI Companies to build two apartment towers connected by a soaring sky bridge at 826 North Winchester Boulevard, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The project, just north of Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair shopping center, would rise 14 and 17 stories, dwarfing any buildings below.

Not-in-my-backyard residents have united to oppose the 197-foot project, calling it “a monstrosity,” “ugly, ugly, ugly” and “an attempt to bring Downtown to our neighborhood,” according to the newspaper.

“These 17- and 14-story buildings are not suitable for an established single-family neighborhood,” resident Kevin Golden said at a community meeting last week. “The developers are the only ones benefitting while they forever negatively change the Cory neighborhood.”

Nearly a year ago, the locally based developer led by Tianxing Wang filed preliminary plans to build the 135-unit twin towers project to replace a vacant office building covered with graffiti.

The L-shaped towers would contain 70 one-bedroom and 65 two-bedroom apartments, of which 20 units would be set aside as affordable. The glass towers, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows trimmed in white, would feature a massive sky bridge.

VCI would add 15,000 square feet of shops and restaurants and 18,800 square feet of privately owned, public open space that it would design with feedback from neighbors, according to Kelly Erardi, director of entitlements at VCI.

The developer seeks a general plan amendment for the 0.6-acre site. Current zoning limits heights at 50 feet.

Dozens of residents objected to the project, citing traffic, safety and parking concerns, as well as the sheer size of the proposed highrises next door.

“It doesn’t have the infrastructure to support a 17-story building with such high-density housing,” said Michelle Olmstead, of the neighborhood where her family has lived for several decades.

Critics added that parking had become an increasing problem after nearby Santana Row started charging for parking, leading to an influx of cars on residential streets.

Housing advocates said the project was vital for the city to meet its state housing goal of 62,200 units by 2031.

“The city has a requirement of 60,000 new housing units in the next eight years, and this is a fantastic opportunity to get closer to that,” Alex Shoor, executive director of Catalyze SV, said. “I have had dozens of my friends and loved ones who have left this area because they cannot afford to live in this community anymore.

“There is nothing more important to a community than keeping its people in that community they love.”

VCI bought the blighted offices in June last year for $6.5 million after lenders foreclosed on the property, according to the Mercury News. They had been beset by multiple fires and crime.

The lender, locally based Emerson Vista, seized the property after Kochland, an affiliate controlled by Kenneth Ryan Koch of Grass Valley, defaulted on a $505,000 loan. The developer had planned to replace the building with 137 apartments.

— Dana Bartholomew