Neighbors call high-rise proposal north of Santana Row “a monstrosity”

A developer has proposed an ambitious high-rise project just north of Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair — at 14 and 17 stories, far taller than any nearby building — but not without significant pushback from San Jose and Santa Clara residents who fear the landmark development could change the character of their neighborhood.

VCI Cos. has requested a general plan amendment to facilitate its vision to replace a vacant, dilapidated office building near the corner of Winchester Boulevard and West Hedding Street with a high-rise development consisting of two towers connected by a skyway.

However, residents have united to oppose the project that could reach a maximum height of 197 feet, calling it “a monstrosity,” “ugly, ugly, ugly” and “an attempt to bring downtown to our neighborhood” at a community meeting last week.

“These 17- and 14-story buildings are not suitable for an established single-family neighborhood,” resident Kevin Golden said. “This project brings no benefit to the Cory neighborhood or our Santa Clara neighbors. The developers are the only ones benefitting while they forever negatively change the Cory neighborhood.”

Multiple developers have eyed improvements to the .6-acre office property at 826 N. Winchester Blvd., which is riddled with graffiti, and has been the site of multiple fires and criminal activity.

But before the previous owner broke ground, VCI acquired the site last year for more than $6.5 million after lenders foreclosed on the property.

Kelly Erardi, director of entitlements at VCI Cos., said the proposed 135-unit project would consist of 70 one-bedroom and 65 two-bedroom units. Twenty of the units would be set aside as inclusionary affordable housing.

Along with the residential component, Erardi said the developer was eyeing 15,000 square feet of retail space and 18,800 square feet of privately owned, public open space that it would design with feedback from the community.

But dozens of residents — many of whom have lived in the single-family residential neighborhood that abuts the property for several years — spoke out against the proposal due to traffic, safety and parking concerns, as well as the sheer size of the structures that would tower over their homes.

“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 of the project also noted that parking had become an increasing problem in the area after Santana Row started charging for parking, leading to an influx of cars on residential streets.

The current zoning designation at the site limits the height on some parts of the property to 35 feet, while allowing up to 50 feet on other portions.

While the developer has sough to change the area to a transit residential district, which would allow for increased building heights and density, planning staff noted that the proposal was still inconsistent with multiple city policies.

With the exception of one resident, the only positive comments came from housing advocates, who called the project transformative and vital for the city to meet its state housing mandates that require it to plan for 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,” Catalyze SV Executive Director Alex Shoor 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.”

But Stefan Ewald, who lives on the Santa Clara side of the neighborhood, said he was disturbed that housing advocates and the developer, who don’t live in their neighborhood, talked about what the community needs instead of listening to what residents were telling them about their concerns or what they wanted.

“They talked a lot about community, and yes indeed this will be transformative — but not in a good way,” Ewald said.

San Jose is collecting input for an environmental impact report, which it could release in the latter portions of the third quarter of 2025. City staff said planning commission and City Council hearings would occur in late 2025 or early 2026 based on that timeline.

Despite the fierce pushback, Erardi said the developer would likely hold more community meetings in hopes of addressing neighborhood concerns.

“We’re here to listen, and some of the things we heard we’re not particularly surprised about, and we’ll do our best to work towards addressing some of these items and see what we can come up with,” Erardi said.