Sand Hill Revises Plan for Retail Village in San Jose

Sand Hill Property has again fine-tuned its plans for a controversial retail village in southwest San Jose by including nearly 100 fewer homes, with no affordable housing.

The Palo Alto-based developer led by Peter Pau has revised its plans to replace the El Paseo Shopping Center with a mixed-use project at 1312 El Paseo De Saratoga and 1777 Saratoga Avenue, SFYimby reported.

In January, the developer had upgraded previously approved plans to redevelop the nearly 30-acre shopping center into three 867-unit apartment buildings, including a 120-unit senior housing complex and a stand-alone Whole Foods Market.

Plans for the 10-acre project, called El Paseo De Saratoga, now call for 775 market-rate units and 88,800 square feet of retail and dining. An initial proposal to include 150 affordable apartments is out on the table.

The project would include 10- and 12-story buildings with 775 apartments over 30,400 square feet of retail.

A seven-story senior living facility would span 231,000 square feet. A 58,400-square-foot Whole Foods Market remains in the revised plan.

The project, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz and Lantz Boggio Architects, includes floor-to-ceiling windows with large corner balconies, according to a rendering. Outdoor seating and umbrellas line the restaurants below.

Construction is estimated to take almost four years. A project cost and timeline were not disclosed.

Sand Hill bought the mall in 2019 for $146 million. Three years later it was The El Paseo de Saratoga project received unanimous approval from the City Council, despite objections from neighborhood groups concerned about higher density and traffic.

In July 2022, Citizens for Inclusive Development filed a lawsuit to challenge San Jose’s approval process, according to the Mercury News. The group objected that the city, while noting that the development would include a supermarket, did not disclose that it would be a Whole Foods.

Last August, a Santa Clara County judge ruled against the group and in favor of the city of San Jose. The following month, the group appealed the decision to the state court of appeals, which has not yet ruled on the matter.

Elsewhere in Silicon Valley, after a nearly decade-long battle with the city of Cupertino and local residents over what to do with its Vallco Shopping Center, Sand Hill Property last year laid out a plan to redevelop the now 51-acre site into a city- within a city.

The developer scaled back plans for the 7 million-square-foot redevelopment of the former mall by scrapping its apartment tower and the world’s largest “green roof.”

— Dana Bartholomew