Growth creates need.
The legend of Silicon Valley was born from its ability to change the way we all live. However, changes must occur inside the Valley itself in order to benefit its own residents. And the real estate community will play a large role in that change. As tech companies either start or grow larger, the need for employee housing becomes a pressing one. A variety of mixed-use projects are now being developed on the sites of former shopping malls and big-box retail centers to help solve for this demand.
Reimagining malls.
Transformative projects like this are happening all over the Valley. In Santa Clara, Gateway Village has a proposed 420 rental residences and 86,000 square feet of new retail on the site of a former Kohl’s and Taco Bell that spans over 12.6 acres. And City Place Santa Clara, located on the site of a golf course and BMX bike track, 5.7 million square feet of office, 1.1 million square feet of retail space, 1,360 residences, and 700 hotel rooms on 239 acres are in development. In Campbell, the 250,00 square foot Pruneyard retail center will receive an additional 23,000 square feet of additional shop space and a new 5-story 100,000 square foot office building. Another example of mall reimaging is the Sunnyvale Town Center, a two-level shopping center that will eventually offer additional retail, restaurant, and office space, a multi-screen movie theater with up to 2,950 seats, a total of 292 residences; a hotel with up to 200 rooms, and a landscaped plaza.
Applying creativity to housing.
Housing will continue to be an issue in Silicon Valley for some time to come. But by reimagining older shopping malls and retail centers into mixed-use projects, the housing situation is being addressed in a creative way.
