City Beat

Council OKs Fruitdale commercial building

Offices are portion of already-approved development site

By Kate Carter

Responding to the support of the city's planning department staff and planning commission, and with no public opposition, the city council March 19 voted to approve a site rezoning to permit the construction of an office building at the southeast corner of Southwest Expressway and Fruitdale Avenue.

The office building would be part of the larger, former Kmart site, which is already under construction for a 442-unit mixed-use retail-residential development with 8,000 square feet of retail space.

The multi-use construction would be directly across from the planned Fruitdale station of the Vasona Light Rail line, that is now under construction, and is in conformance with the city's goals for transit-corridor and multi-use development. Last May, the council approved a General Plan amendment to allow the office building site to be used for commercial purposes. The surrounding areas are already zoned for multi-use retail-residential developments, and most are already used as such.

The entire site is about 12 acres; the council approved about two acres for a building with either a maximum of 250,000 square feet of office uses or a maximum of 20,000 square feet of retail and 230,000 square feet of office uses.

The developer for the entire project, John Vidovich of Sunnyvale's De Anza Properties, has proposed 20,000 square feet of retail space along Southwest Expressway and the interior of the site adjacent to open space.

The office building and five retail-residential buildings will be grouped around the 0.8 acres of open space and walkways accessible to the future light rail station and available to the public. Three of the residential-retail buildings will be located along St. Elizabeth Avenue; one will be located along the site's southern boundary; and one will be directly adjacent to the office building on its southwestern side.

The office building's ground level would include an outdoor passageway connecting the open space to Southwest Expressway, with the building's second floor above.

The maximum permitted height of the office building is 120 feet. Vidovich is proposing a maximum of 99 feet--six stories--at the corner of the two main roads, to be detailed with interesting architectural features and serve as a landmark for both the development and the light rail station.

The building would taper down to 71 feet--five floors--throughout the rest of the site.

Most of the building's required parking--between 723 and 750 spaces, depending on the amount of retail use--would be located in the three-level parking garage beneath the building. The garage would be accessible from a private roadway on the building's southwestern side.

More required parking, as well as additional parking, in total 781 spaces, would be located in portions of the already-approved construction.

The city's traffic engineers, using information gathered from an outside consultant's traffic study, determined that the new development, in its entirety, would not have a significant adverse effect on traffic, even considering scenarios involving future residential developments in the area. They also determined that the change in use of potentially 20,000 square feet will not have a significant traffic impact.

The developer will also landscape the site's open space and edges.

The residential portion of the development will include studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom town-homes, as well as residential lofts or live-work units; residential services and amenities such as leasing offices, fitness and meeting rooms and pools will also be included. The residential buildings range from two to four stories.

Around The Glen

Deborah Taylor-Hollis: The Imperial Royal Lion Monarchy's Coronation Ball

Sports Briefs

High school sports