First American Homebuilder in Northern California Blog

Winners and losers in Lund Ranch 50-home development approval

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 19:02:56 GMT

Pleasanton Weekly

From the article:

There were winners and losers last week as the Pleasanton Planning Commission approved a bid by Greenbriar Homes to build 50 homes on the now-vacant 195-acre Lund Ranch II site in the hills south of Sunol Boulevard.

The decision now goes to the City Council for another public hearing, likely to be held on Sept. 15.

In approving the project in a 4-1 vote, the commission also ruled that the upscale home development could be accessed only by a new 24-foot-wide road that Greenbriar must build to connect to Sunset Creek Lane, which homeowners would then use to reach Sycamore Creek Way and Sunol Boulevard.

That route is controversial because a section of the new roadway would be built across a 25% slope, which opponents said will violate voter-approved Measure PP. Pleasanton voters passed Measure PP in 2008, a law that is now part of the city's General Plan that requires the city to restrict development of housing and commercial structures on steep slopes and within 100 vertical feet of a ridgeline.

Opponents of the roadway approved by the commission argued at the Aug. 26 public hearing that the road is a structure and therefore can't traverse slopes steeper than 25%.

Pulte to redevelop Winchester Ranch mobile home park as concern grows about loss of affordable housing

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 21:23:18 GMT

Silicon Valley Business Journal

From the article:

Setting up San Jose’s next big land-use brawl, Winchester Ranch Mobile Home Park will start the closure process later this year as the property owner prepares to sell the 16-acre site to PulteGroup, the national homebuilder.

The park’s residents, all of whom are seniors, were told of the plans at a community meeting this week, San Jose Mercury News reporter Ramona Giwargis reported Thursday. The announcement was not unexpected: The property, spitting distance from Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair, has been on the market for several years, and Pulte surfaced publicly as the likely buyer last year.

After housing proposal rejection, aging East Bay office complex to shut down

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 22:06:46 GMT

San Francisco Business Times

From the article:

Sunset Development is planning to shutter a 1970s office complex after the Livermore City Council voted earlier this week to reject its plan to raze the development and build 42 new homes on the site.

The remaining tenants at the existing property, Sunset Office Plaza at Holmes Street and Concannon Boulevard, will be vacating the property by the fall. The developer said it won't be filing new proposals for the site after spending several years unsuccessfully chasing entitlements for various housing on the site.

The company told the Contra Costa Times that it planned to put the property on the market.

Alexander Mehran, Jr., president and COO of Sunset Development, told the Business Times that the nearly 80,000-square-foot office complex couldn't compete with buildings in Livermore's downtown. Businesses had moved out and asking rents had fallen to $17.40 per square foot, about half of Class A rents in the East Bay.

"It really hurt our occupancy and our rents," said Mehran.

The City Council voted 5-0 against the developer's rezoning request, which would have added housing and a new 20,000-square-foot office building, despite a prior approval from the city's Planning Commission in June. Last year, the city rejected a previous Sunset Development proposal that called for more housing on the site, with 87 single-family homes and townhouses.

Park View Towers poised to add to St. James Park revival

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 15:34:16 GMT

Silicon Valley Business Journal

From the article:

Back when Barry Swenson Builder started to acquire a key block bordering downtown San Jose's St. James Park, Ronald Reagan was president and Apple Computer had just shown off the Macintosh.

More than 30 years later, a lot has changed in the world and in Silicon Valley. But the area around the defunct First Church of Christ Scientist looks much the same.

That could all change after the San Jose City Council on Tuesday gave final approval to a redesigned $150 million mixed-use high-rise condo project there called Park View Towers, brushing aside objections from the Preservation Action Council of San Jose that the development was out of character with the historic area.

The go-ahead means BSB can move forward with the complex process of moving the historic church so that site work can begin in earnest, a prelude to vertical construction. (The church will then be moved back and renovated for commercial use, making it the centerpiece of the two-tower, 220-unit project.) And it raises hopes for a long-awaited revival of the St. James Park, a vast downtown open space designed by Frederick Law Olmstead but an area that has long struggled with homelessness and drugs.

After years and years, Los Gatos approves North 40 land-use framework — Really!

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 22:17:54 GMT

Silicon Valley Business Journal

From the article:

The Los Gatos Town Council late Wednesday approved the land-use guidelines for the town's so-called "North 40" area, a major milestone that comes after years — even decades — of false starts.

The 3-2 vote sets the stage for the transformation of the last remaining large piece of undeveloped land in Los Gatos, which is actually about 44 acres.

Livermore: Planners recommend approval of Sunset Crossing residential development

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:34:21 GMT

Contra Costa Times

From the article:

LIVERMORE -- If at first you don't succeed, try again.

San Ramon developer Sunset Development did just that Tuesday, presenting a revised plan to the Planning Commission that would demolish the decades-old Sunset Office Plaza in South Livermore, and replace it with single-family homes and a two-story office building.

After denying a proposal by the company a year ago, the commission voted 4-1 to rezone the 14-acre site to allow for razing the plaza and building 42 houses and a 19,600-square-foot office building at the intersection of Holmes Street and Concannon Boulevard. There would be a green landscape buffer between the proposed Sunset Crossing neighborhood and existing homes.

"This is a change, and change is oftentimes difficult to deal with," said Planning Commission Chairman Neal Pann. "We have done things like this in the past and it's worked out well. ... Change can have a positive effect. It's not always a negative effect."

The decision came roughly a year after Sunset Development scrapped plans for an 82-unit residential project on the site, including 38 multifamily units. The idea was the subject of intense debate since it was first proposed in 2013. During Tuesday's meeting, a packed crowd of nearby residents and clients of the complex railed against the loss of local businesses, and the resulting traffic, safety issues and additional students generated by the project.

$500 million Alameda waterfront project approved

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 16:34:54 GMT

San Jose Mercury News

From the article:

ALAMEDA -- A $500 million project that calls for transforming 68 acres of waterfront property at Alameda Point with 800 homes and 600,000 square feet of commercial space won unanimous approval from the City Council on Tuesday.

The mixed-use project at the former U.S. Navy base will also feature 15 acres of parks, as well as possibly a new ferry terminal. It is expected to generate 2,570 construction jobs and 1,472 permanent jobs.

The homes will be a mix of flats, condominiums and townhouses. Each will be within a five-minute walk of the ferry terminal and within a two-minute walk of shops and shuttles that will offer service to downtown Oakland and BART, according to Alameda Point Partners, the developer team.

Led by Joe Ernst of SRMErnst, which specializes in light industrial projects, the team also includes Madison Marquette and Thompson Dorfman Partners.

"I care deeply about this community," said Ernst, a 14-year resident of Alameda. "I am very sensitive as to what the community wants, what the community needs."

About 530 housing units will be rentals and 200 will be designated affordable.

More than 50 people signed up to speak during Tuesday's meeting, all-but-one touting the project's benefits and noting that other redevelopment efforts have failed since the Navy base closed in 1997.

"It will jumpstart sorely-needed infrastructure," former Mayor Marie Gilmore said. "We are talking sewers. We are talking water. We are talking telecom."

San Jose affordable-housing win sets up big changes for industry

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 15:27:48 GMT

Silicon Valley Business Journal

From the article:

San Jose city officials will move swiftly to begin implementing a long-delayed affordable housing ordinance following Monday’s California Supreme Court ruling upholding the law. But industry groups opposed to the added regulation on the for-sale sector are not giving up without a fight.

The so-called “inclusionary housing” regulations, which affect new, for-sale projects, could be enforced for the first time citywide in San Jose in a little more than six months, said Jacky Morales-Ferrand, interim director of the San Jose Department of Housing.

“It’s a tremendous victory for our city, the housing department and most importantly, the future buyers who are actually going to have an opportunity to buy something that’s more affordable, so they can afford to live and work and play in San Jose, which is what we want,” she said.

Still, the homebuilding industry was vowing to fight on, with an attorney for the industry saying on Monday that the unanimous ruling could be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Infrastructure work starts on Oakland's biggest active project

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 22:50:37 GMT

San Francisco Business Times

From the article:

Infrastructure work has begun on Oakland's largest active real estate project, the $1.5 billion Brooklyn Basin development that will transform the city's southern waterfront into 3,100 housing units and 200,000 square feet of retail.

The project officially broke ground in March 2014, with environmental remediation as the first step in the build-out.

Signature Development Group and its Chinese financial partner Zarsion Holdings have begun building sewage, water and electric systems. They are creating new streets and turning Oakland's Embarcadero into a landscaped parkway. The project will include solar-powered lights and a reclaimed water distribution system.

But groundbreaking of the first phase of the project's residential portion, originally slated for this summer, has been delayed by a year until the second quarter of 2016. The first building of roughly 300 units will break ground by the second quarter of 2016. Occupancy is scheduled by the end of 2017.

"I was a bit optimistic last year. That said, the remediation took a little longer and the city of Oakland review of the engineering took a little longer," said Mike Ghielmetti, president of Signature Development Group about the delay in starting work on the first residential units.

Council Votes to Halt Eastside Pleasanton Planning Process

tvargas@firstam.com (Tom Vargas) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 23:44:27 GMT

The Independent

From the article:

The Pleasanton City Council rescinded its decision to hold an advisory vote on the East Pleasanton Specific Plan process this coming November 2015.

A staff report listing a cost of between $494,844 to $618,555 for the special election convinced the council to change its mind.

The vote was 4 to 0 to bring back a resolution at the council's June 16 meeting. The resolutoin would address stopping both the planning and environmental review process and disbanding the task force. There would be no parameters on when the process might resume. The eastside planning would become part of the council's priority setting process.