MnLRT...Moving Minnesoootans Through the New Century
Published Thursday, December 16, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News
Growth follows the tracks ... Housing, high-tech offices spring up along new light-rail line
by Gary Richards
Mercury News Staff Writer
Spurred by the first trolley extension in eight years, an
urban-style
housing and office boom is occurring along the nearly
eight-mile route
from downtown Mountain View to First Street and Tasman
Drive in San
Jose.
More than 9 million square feet of office space and 4,500
housing units
have sprung up since rail construction began three years
ago, a building
spree that has planners shaking their heads in
amazement.
This boom is unlike any other in the valley of Los
Angeles-style sprawl.
While large ranch-style homes and one-story
tilt-ups continue to dot
most of the South Bay, the light-rail corridor
offers a glimpse into a
transit-oriented future. As passengers begin
riding Friday, they will
pass three-story condos, high-rise apartments
and twice as many
single-family homes on an acre of land than most
other places.
``You can't put the finger on light rail being the
difference,'' said
Geoff Goodfellow, the planning director in Santa
Clara. ``But it's been
a definite plus.''
Silicon Valley has endured rapid development throughout
its brief
history. In the 1960s, San Jose planners were so busy paving
streets to
outlying areas that they were running out of names. In the
past decade,
more than 12 million square feet of office space went up
in the Rincon
and Edenvale industrial zones of the city.
Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and San Jose all
approved zoning
changes eight to 15 years ago with an eye toward
trolleys that they then
hoped would make the east-west trek and take
the pressure off congested
roads such as Highway 237 and Montague
Expressway. Instead of seven
homes on an acre of land, 12 to 14 were
approved. Instead of 14 to 15
apartments or condos per acre, 30 to 90
are being built.
This isn't downtown San Jose, where the region's few
skyscrapers rise.
It's the midst of suburbia, where a semi-urban
environment is being
created. Homes, retail outlets, grocery stores and
trains will someday
mix. For some, only a car will be
missing.
``For many people, an urban lifestyle is a great
lifestyle,'' said Linda
Mandolini, director of transportation and land
use for the Silicon
Valley Manufacturing Group. ``Not having to use
your car for every trip,
being able to walk to a coffee shop . . .
there's a sense of community.
And you can bypass always being stuck in
traffic.''
Urban density
Nowhere is that more evident than in Mountain View, just a
short stroll
from the Caltrain/light-rail transfer station along
Central Expressway.
Whisman Station will eventually have 600
single-family homes, townhouses
and condos. Two parks dot the area, and
on a sunny, warm December
afternoon, an elderly man sat on a bench
watching a toddler romp around
the playground.
Nearby, a woman looked out her front porch and called her
child in. In
how many other spots in the valley can a mom look out her
front door
and tell her child it's time to come in from the park? And
the trolley
tracks are a softball toss away.
``The density here is certainly higher than what it would
have been
had light rail not been here,'' said Jim Pollart, vice
president for
development of the Castle Group, one of three developers
at Whisman.
``When we're talking to buyers, light rail is certainly
more of a
positive sign than a negative.''
For years, Jerry Williams commuted down Highway 101 from
San Mateo to
work at Worldtalk, an e-mail software company at Tasman
and Old Ironside
drives. The trip gradually consumed more of his day,
an hour each way.
Finally the 38-year-old salesman had had enough. It
was time to move
closer to work.
``Highway 101 is a parking lot; the road is all beaten
up,'' Williams
said. ``I couldn't take it anymore.''
He looked at two dozen homes in the valley and hadn't
planned on
checking out this new development at Whisman.
``I just stumbled across this place,'' he said of the
1,300-square-foot,
three-bedroom townhouse he bought for $372,000.
``Why deal with an old
house when I could buy a new one?
``Then they told me that light rail goes right by here and
there's a
station just outside. I said: `Oh, really.' Now Williams can
walk out
his front door, hop aboard the trolley, get off and walk half
a block
to his office. ``This,'' he said, ``is sweet.''
And you can take B.J. Favaro off Highway 237. Although his
commute by
car was a mere 25 minutes to Cisco, it was a painful 25
minutes.
``I didn't like traveling 237 at 10 miles per hour,'' said
Favaro, who
two years ago moved into a home at Whisman Station. ``That
was not
pleasant.''
Instead, starting Monday, he'll hop a trolley, read the
paper and relax.
``I love the convenience of light rail,'' the
37-year-old engineer said.
``I can debrief.''
More housing on route
Similar housing units line the entire route: 300 homes
along Fair Oaks
Avenue on the Sunnyvale-Mountain View border; a
whopping 2,500
single-family units in the Renaissance complex in Santa
Clara; and more
than 3,000 rental units are coming on the site of the
Moitozo Ranch on
North First Street, just a quick stroll from the new
Baypointe Transfer
Station between the Guadalupe and Tasman light rail
lines. On some
sites, 90 units will sit on one acre.
On the Guadalupe line, a dozen projects have sprung up.
More than 1,000
condos sit along the Almaden spur, with several hundred
more on what
used to be a park-and-ride lot at the Ohlone-Chynoweth
station.
Up to 4,000 units are being considered on Communications
Hill, just a
short stroll to Highway 87 and the Curtner station.
Several hundred more
high-density homes sit downtown.
It appears people who move near a light-rail station do so
because the
trolleys are there. A survey of people who had moved within
a half-mile
of the Guadalupe line, which runs from the Almaden Valley
to North San
Jose, revealed that 43 percent said light rail was a big
factor in their
choice of a home or apartment.
But it's not just housing being lured by light rail.
High-tech companies
are ripping down their one-story tilt-ups and
replacing them with towers
several stories high. Many are also buying
into the Eco Pass system,
buying transit passes at huge discounts so
their workers can commute to
work free of charge.
The biggest spread is owned by Cisco Systems, which has
built 4.6
million square feet of office space along Tasman Drive. Its
campus runs
as far as one can see, and at one point the company was
opening two
buildings a month.
``A lot of factors go into site selection,'' said Ellen
Jamason, Cisco's
director of real estate. ``But the existence of light
rail was
definitely an influence.''
Juniper Networks bought land across from Lockheed-Martin,
and original
plans were typical of the old valley: an office tower
sitting several
hundred feet off Mathilda Avenue with parking in front.
It would be
convenient to drive, not as convenient to walk from the
trolley.
When company officials discovered light rail would run on
Mathilda, they
scrapped those plans and opted for a five-story tower
with its front
door almost to the sidewalk. Motorists would have to
park in the rear;
trolley riders would get top
consideration.
``CEOs throughout the valley realize you cannot solve the
transportation
problem with automobiles,'' said Barney Burke, the
assistant economic
development manager for Mountain View. ``We're not
trying to force
people to do certain things, but we are trying to offer
them some
choices.''
Looking to the future
Future extensions will take light rail into Milpitas, East
San Jose and
Campbell, and townhomes are expected to flourish along
those routes in
the housing-starved valley. Campbell approved hundreds
of condos off
Winchester Boulevard years ago in anticipation of
trolleys coming.
While only 3 to 4 percent of the valley's vacant land
lies within a
quarter-mile of transit, officials say more high-density
housing will
be built.
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority officials are
scoping out
where light rail should go next. When Cisco explores plans
to develop
in the Coyote Valley, transit officials are sitting across
the table.
Five-story offices are being considered, tall enough to
pack in enough
engineers who would then be able to take light rail or
Caltrain.
``As we continue to attract highly educated young people,
I think
they'll tend to gravitate toward more urban areas,'' Cisco's
Jamason
said. ``Urban means transit.''
Gary Richards covers transportation. He can be reached by
e-mail at
mrroadshow@sjmercury.com or
(408) 920-5335.
[For Tasman LRT extension info, see: http://www.tasman.vta.org]