Orchard Supply Hardware stores across the Bay Area and beyond closed their doors early Tuesday and will shut down permanently by the end of the year, according to a company spokeswoman. Jackie Hartzell, a spokeswoman for parent company Lowe's, said employees were informed of the permanent shutdown Tuesday, and store liquidations will begin Thursday. Bought by Lowe's in 2013, Orchard Supply remained a separate brand and operating entity from the Lowe's chain and has more than

Construction expenses have pressured developers severely enough that new market-rate apartments are profitable in no more than two districts in San Jose, according to a new report presented to city officials Tuesday. Even worse, downtown San Jose — seen as a cornerstone of the city’s economy — is one of the sections where development of new housing is unlikely to produce profits for developers, a report from real estate consultancy Keyser Marston Associates determined. “The h

The city council of the City of San Jose voted Tuesday 11-0 to approve the sale of of five former redevelopment properties near Diridon Station to Mountain View-based Google for $67 million. The properties slated for the sale are located at: 8 South Montgomery Street, 105 South Montgomery Street, 510 W. San Fernando Street/102 S. Montgomery Street, 150 South Montgomery Street, and 645 Park Avenue. According to the terms of the compensation agreement, as outlined in a release

This meeting will be an open house format where community members are able to view the final draft concepts of the Plan, make comments, and speak directly with City Staff. Comments: If you have comments on the Draft Plan, please email me directly, and your comments will be considered and included in the public record. You may also email Jennifer.Piozet@sanjoseca.gov any questions you may have about the Plan. You can find the draft Plan for the South Bascom Urban Village at:

A Community Outreach Meeting will take place at Westminster Presbyterian Curch Fireside Community Room 1100 Shasta Ave San Jose, CA 95126 on Thursday, February 1st, 2018 from 6:30-8:30pm Proposed Project: File No. SP17-037 (Page Street Housing) – 329 Page Street, located on approximately 300 feet south of the intersection of West San Carlos and Page Street. A Special Use Permit to build an approximately 52,272 square foot affordable housing building on a 0.70 acre lot. The pr

On June 20, 2017, the City Council adopted a resolution authorizing the City Manager to negotiate and execute an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) with Google for the acquisition of properties in the Diridon Station Area owned by the City of San Jose (7 parcels comprising 2 main sites) and properties owned by the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency(SARA)(9 parcels comprising 5 main sites). The June ENA action marked the first step in a multi-step, multi-year proc

An army of 20,000 Googlers is expected to descend upon the capital of Silicon Valley when the search giant opens a new campus here. To see what happens when an explosively growing technology company moves into downtown, look no further than Seattle. Amazon’s dramatic expansion there has wrought a profound transformation on the city, and holds lessons for San Jose. Some points are beyond dispute: rent and real estate costs in Seattle have skyrocketed, as has homelessness,

No doubt about it, our cities are in trouble. Not only are they saddled with insurmountable debt, but some are on their way to becoming functionally insolvent. Many are borrowing from the future to balance the budget. Many cities are not that different than Detroit. Detroit is just 20 years ahead of us because they started this style of development that is bankrupting us earlier. In addition, cities are ill equipped to develop and design the kind of neighborhoods that make se

Before more developers can swoop in to build in the West San Carlos Street and Bascom Avenue urban village areas, minor land-use changes may have to be made to some properties within. But those changes shouldn’t alter the urban villages’ overall boundaries, according to San Jose city planners. The city recently proposed “modifications to the boundary and changes to General Plan land use designations on properties within the boundaries” of both urban village plans. Planning di

A Smart & Final grocery store will be built on the old Mel Cotton’s site in Midtown San Jose, developers announced last week at a community meeting. The 29,580-square-foot store will go up on the two-acre lot at the corner of West San Carlos and Race streets, directly across the street from Safeway. Until it closed for good last year, Mel Cotton’s Sporting Goods had stood there for more than 60 years. Some residents at the April 20 meeting held at the Westminster Presbyterian

An application has been submitted to rezone the site of the historic Midtown building that housed iconic sporting goods store Mel Cotton’s for more than 60 years before it closed last month. Applicant Terry Pries filed for a permit in late October to rezone the 2-acre site at the corner of West San Carlos and Race streets from light industrial to combined industrial/commercial. Representatives for developer HMH Inc. could not be reached for comment about its plans or to addre

Construction on the Silver project began in November marking the first phase of a three phase buildout for a large residential mixed-use high-rise in the Midtown neighborhood of San Jose on the corner of Auzerais Avenue and Sunol Street. Following a lengthy 10-year planning process, developer Green Republic LLLP, a joint venture between SWENSON and Republic Urban Properties, will be holding a ground breaking reception on December 21 at the construction site. Republic Urban Pr

The San Jose City Council continues to grapple with housing development proposals in conflict with the need to build a tax base the way well-financed cities with fully staffed police departments do: by nurturing job growth. Tuesday it faces a test of its resolve with a proposal for housing on commercial-industrial zoned land. The proposed general plan change for a stretch along San Carlos Street was one of three that city staff recommended for early denial — that is, the prop

You can tell when a topic gets really, really heated at San Jose City Hall, incandescent white in a world of gray. A council member will put out a memo that attacks not only an opposing position, but the Mercury News, demanding that the council be given room to make its own decision. That’s what happened over the weekend with Councilman Don Rocha, who has probably set the record for bristling and unpleasant memos in his four-years-plus on the council. All of this has to do wi

The Ohlone lives. A year after a major mixed-use project in San Jose's Midtown neighborhood seemed all but dead, the developer has reached a deal with the city that could set the stage for a groundbreaking by 2016. "We are now proceeding forward," said Michael R. Van Every of Green Republic LLC, the joint venture that is developing the 8.25-acre project at West San Carlos and Sunol streets. The San Jose Planning Commission later this month will consider a revised project prop

The West San Carlos Street and South Bascom Avenue urban village plans are available for the public to read and comment on. Each document lays out the vision, goals, policies, and actions necessary to create attractive, walkable, green communities. Both plans envision safe and well-connected neighborhoods, thriving business districts, and gathering places that promote community identity and spirit. They also encourage sustainable design features, such as bioswales, and emphas

The second community workshop for the West San Carlos Urban Village was held on September 23, 2013, at Sherman Oaks Community Center, with more than 80 community members participating. The input from the first meeting (held on October, 29th, 2012) helped inform the creation of draft concepts relating to urban design, land use, parks/public art, circulation, and streetscape. These draft concepts were presented to the community at this second meeting in order to receive further

San Jose’s first step toward the Envision 2040 General Plan is headed in the wrong direction. Nearly 10 years ago, the Valley Transportation Authority invited developers’ proposals for a prime parcel it planned to sell in Midtown San Jose. Green Republic won that bid with Ohlone Towers. The developer hailed the project as “designed to comply with the goals of the City of San Jose 2040 General Plan” and said it was “looking forward by embracing transit, bringing neighborhood s

West San Carlos (WSC), with its cool vibe and eclectic mix of businesses, is not only a destination in-and-of itself, but it also plays a pivotal role linking downtown San Jose and Santana Row. This area also happens to fall within both the city and county jurisdictions. This dual jurisdiction has historically thwarted development, and has made consistent code enforcement difficult. But with recent annexations, there now exists the opportunity for positive private economic de

The Midtown Specific Plan provides a vision for an area of San Jose that is undergoing considerable transition and change. The purpose of the plan is to guide the evolution of this 210-acre industrial and commercial Service area in a way that will encourage coordinated development, responsive to citywide and regional objectives as well as local and neighborhood considerations. The goal is to create a new mixed-use community that includes high-density commercial and residentia