A Silicon Valley developer behind one of the largest mixed-use mall overhauls in California's Bay Area has filed plans for a housing development near Google's headquarters.
On the heels of winning approvals for its long-planned revamping of a vacant shopping mall in Cupertino — the San Francisco Bay Area hometown of tech giant Apple — Sand Hill Property Co. has filed plans for a 100-unit apartment complex in Palo Alto, about a mile away from the about 3 million-square-foot Googleplex campus, home to the search engine giant.
Sand Hill aims to tear down dated commercial buildings for the project at 830 E. Charleston Road and 4015 Fabian Way, a 0.7-acre site in Palo Alto, one of the priciest rental markets in California, according to CoStar data.
Silicon Valley's rent growth has climbed steadily over the past 20 years, coinciding with the growth of the tech sector, according to CoStar data. Rents have reached $3,051 per month, the highest in the country.
"The success of Silicon Valley's tech economy” has provided a premium on rents in the region, according to CoStar’s analysis. Cities such as Palo Alto, Mountain View and Cupertino post the most expensive rents in the region.
In Cupertino, Sand Hill is planning to transform the Vallco Shopping Mall into a mixed-use hub with nearly 3,000 houses, 2 million square feet of offices and 230,000 square feet of retail property.
Sand Hill acquired the site of its Palo Alto project in 2016 for $3.5 million. The planned 140,000-square-foot multifamily building would replace an auto repair shop and office space for a cleaning company.
State mandates require Palo Alto to add 6,086 residential units by 2031 to accommodate future housing needs. That goal would more than double the city's current inventory of 4,100 units, according to CoStar. Fewer than 300 houses have been built in the city over the past 15 years.
In one of the more recent housing proposals for Palo Alto, San Francisco-based Redco Development filed plans with the city in November to redevelop a supermarket into a 17-story apartment complex totaling 382 units.
