SANTA CLARA, CA—A plan to develop 994 residential units and six live/work units named Nuevo in the Lawrence Station Area Plan will be the largest master planned housing development since Rivermark back in 2003. SummerHill Housing Group and SummerHill Apartment Communities will build the project consisting of 457 for-sale residential units including six for-sale live/work units, 537 apartments, and approximately 40,000 square feet of neighborhood retail and restaurants. The project will include a variety of housing types, from condominiums and apartments to townhomes and detached homes.

The company has started the demolition of the aging light industrial facilities located on site and expects to commence grading for the apartments this summer. Once the demolition and grading have been completed, SummerHill expects to start construction on the for-sale residential models and the apartment community in September 2017, and complete the apartments in late 2019 and the buildout of the for-sale community in 2022.

“With the 2010 update of Santa Clara's general plan, the city council had the foresight to plan for this area to convert from light industrial to high-density residential,” Katia Kamangar, SummerHill Housing Group's executive vice president/managing director tells GlobeSt.com. “The fact that the property is within walking distance of the Lawrence Caltrain station makes this a very compelling place to build housing. Also, the site is surrounded by various large employers, Apple, AMD, Applied Materials, Nvidia, LinkedIn, Intuitive Surgical, Fujitsu, etc., and residents from the planned 3,500 units will be able to walk to the station and commute to other employment centers on the peninsula. To outline the requisite design elements needed to support this new housing, the city created a specific plan for the 65-acre area that included things such as 6 acres of new parks, 100,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail and affordable housing as well. We actively participated in the specific plan process and designed our 26 acres to meet the city's vision for creating a walkable, bicycle-friendly and vibrant new high-density housing community for this once-in-a-lifetime location in Santa Clara.”

The Nuevo community will include 41 E-homes, 176 townflats, 114 e-towns, 120 condos, six live/work units and 537 apartment homes, of which 98 will be affordable apartment homes. Future residents of Nuevo will enjoy more than 3 acres of fully improved public parks, a community garden, an approximately 4,000-square-foot community center, a dog park and bike share facilities.

“We have been working with the city of Santa Clara for over three years and have assembled land from seven different landowners,” said Robert Freed, president and CEO, SummerHill Housing Group. “Given the scale of this new master-plan community, with expansive parks, neighborhood-serving retail and a short walk to Caltrain, we anticipate that we will see many young professionals, singles and couples that are looking for a home close to their jobs and close to transit that connects them to Santa Clara and beyond. With our single-level condominiums, we also expect to attract move-down buyers looking to downsize and remain in Santa Clara.”

Other amenities include movies in the park, tot lot with children's play equipment, turf areas for yoga/soccer, picnic tables, basketball/sport court, bike paths throughout community, bike share pods, outdoor reading rooms, neighborhood-serving retail and EV charging capability. Amenities for residents of the apartment homes include pools, outdoor barbecue areas, club rooms, fitness centers, business centers, pet grooming facilities and bike storage/repair facilities.

Woodley Architectural Group of Santa Ana, CA is the designer of the e-homes and e-towns. KTGY Architecture + Planning of Oakland, CA is the designer of the apartment and condominium units, along with the six live/work units. SDG Architects of Brentwood, CA is the designer of the townflat units. HMH Engineers of San Jose is the engineer for the project and the landscape architect is R3 Studios of Oakland.

Instant Insights /

General Plan Converts Site from Industrial to High-Density Residential

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