Related Links

San Jose, Calif. – The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors is expected to make a decision Thursday, May 1, 2008 on a property sale agreement with Green Republic, LLP for a site located on West San Carlos and Sunol Streets in San Jose.  If the VTA Board approves the sale of the property, then the developer, Green Republic, LLP will need to go through the development approval process through the City of San Jose to determine the final design of the project.

The current city general plan designation of the 5.25 acre triangle-shaped parcel is Transit Oriented Mixed Use (TMU), which allows for high density residential and commercial development.   Since the property location is near a transit corridor, the general plan transit area policy allows building heights of up to 120 feet.   Outlined in the sale agreement of the West San Carlos site are the goals of the Joint Development Program, which includes comprehensively planning and developing the highest and best housing, office and retail uses around station sites along transit corridors; increasing transportations system capacity; and generating a long-term source of revenue for VTA transit services.   

The recommended terms of the property sale establish a base price of $18,300,000 for the VTA-owned land, which will be escalated over time, adjusting the value upwards to account for inflation.   The developer is also required to contribute $1,000,000 to the improvement of transit within the vicinity of the development. 

The property was formerly used as the San Jose City Bus Yard and more recently used by VTA as a construction staging area for the Vasona Light Rail Project and Route 87 Improvements Project.   The property has been declared Excess Property by VTA.   Green Republic, LLC also has property interests in the parcels immediately adjacent to the VTA property and is considering those properties as land assemblage for purposes of a single site development encompassing a total of approximately 8.35 acres.  Under the city general plan, space for recreational use, such as parkland with public access is required with a project of this capacity. 

Background

In 2005, VTA issued a Request for Proposals for development of the property.   Several proposals were received and as a result of a competitive evaluation process conducted under the VTA Joint Development Policy and Developer Selection Criteria, the Green Republic team was selected as the preferred team for this site. Following selection, VTA entered into an exclusive negotiations agreement with Green Republic, which is a standard business practice that provides both parties with added certainty that negotiations will be conducted in good faith and in a timely manner.  An exclusive agreement also sets schedule-based objectives to be achieved during the negotiation period. 

Approval of what is ultimately built on the site is the sole responsibility of the City of San Jose.  The action of VTA Board of Directors relates to a Sales Agreement of real property, the West San Carlos Joint Development site, to Green Republic, LLC.   This action has no affect on the next step of the process which is the development approvals by the City of San Jose.  If the Board agrees to sell the property according to the terms recommended by staff, the developer is responsible to proceed through the City of San Jose land use development permitting process at their own expense.  The agreement terms do not require, pre-determine or pre-establish the development type, height or density.  All of those decisions rest solely with the City of San Jose and will be determined through the City’s entitlement process.

 Go To Top

About VTA
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is an independent special district responsible for bus, light rail and paratransit operations; congestion management; specific highway improvement projects; and countywide transportation planning. As such, VTA is both an accessible transit provider and multi-modal transportation planning organization involved with transit, highways and roadways, bikeways and pedestrian facilities.

For more information about VTA services, call VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300, (408) 321-2330 (TDD only). Or, log on to www.vta.org.