Santa Clara Res Project Launching

SANTA CLARA, CA—A development team featuring architecture firm KTGY Group is about to begin work here on a 186-unit luxury rental community.

KTGY has joined with SummerHill Housing Group and SummerHill Apartment Communities on the project which will be known as Villas on the Boulevard. A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, October 8 at 4:00 p.m. The property is located on 2611 El Camino Real in Santa Clara, Calif., between Bowers Avenue and San Tomas Expressway, along Saratoga Creek in Santa Clara.

The project was a complex assemblage of six parcels and more than a dozen property owners, including the largest tenant, Russell's Furniture, according to Robert Freed, CEO of SummerHill Housing Group. “Today's groundbreaking ceremony is a celebration of the collaboration between the City of Santa Clara and SummerHill Apartment Communities. Our goal was to produce high quality housing located near jobs, transportation and existing services. We are proud to put our name and reputation on the Villas community and we look forward to working with the City of Santa Clara on future opportunities,” Freed said.

Russell's Furniture had been at that location for over 48 years and closed its doors last month. Responding to changes in the furniture business, owners Richard and Eleanor Rusnak sought to downsize but hoped to remain in Santa Clara. The Rusnaks recently announced that they will be opening a new store in Santa Clara in November. “The City of Santa Clara staff worked very hard in helping us remain in the city. We are very grateful and thrilled to stay in the community,” said co-owner Eleanor Rusnak.
The site is part of the city's 2010 General Plan El Camino Focus Area, which envisioned transforming the city's most visible and identifiable commercial corridor into a tree-lined pedestrian- and transit-oriented corridor. “A high quality project like Villas on the Boulevard helps us meet our goal of revitalizing El Camino and creating economic vitality along this key corridor in our city - and we are very excited to see its completion,” stated Santa Clara mayor Jamie Matthews.
Villas on the Boulevard will features a 4-story residential building over a 1-story partially subterranean garage and includes a 1½-story retail-like frontage along El Camino Real featuring a leasing office and lobby terrace. This El Camino frontage will also include a new widened sidewalk with street trees and landscaping, and tiled stoops leading to apartment homes.  A new public plaza will highlight adjacent Saratoga Creek and a new crosswalk constructed on El Camino Real.  
"The Villas on the Boulevard is truly 'four-sided architecture,'" said KTGY principal Manny Gonzalez. "The building pays homage to the Mission style architecture that the City of Santa Clara and El Camino are known for. The frontage on El Camino has an urban massing that meets the street with ground floor stoops. The rear steps down in scale to maintain the privacy of the single-family homes it faces.  One side embraces the beauty of Saratoga Creek while the other responds to the retail uses by orienting the living spaces inward to the courtyard."
The property is ½ block from the proposed VTA Bus Rapid Transit Bowers Station and within walking distance to grocery stores, retail and services. The first units are expected to be completed in fall 2016, with pre-leasing in late summer 2016.
SummerHill Housing Group combines the expertise and market strength of the highly respected development firms San Ramon-based SummerHill Homes and SummerHill Apartment Communities. oth firms focus on the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California. KTGY Group, Inc., Architecture and Planning, is a national award-winning firm providing comprehensive planning and award-winning architectural design services for residential communities, retail, hospitality, mixed-use and related specialty developments.