The planning commission unanimously approved the project at its Oct. 27 meeting.

"Our goal is to have the vitality of Santana Row but without its flashiness," said Jim Yee, project manager in charge of the development. "The buildings will have the traditional elegance of East Coast brownstones."

The proposed site currently has two office buildings with 103,110 square feet in the southwest corner of the lot. The proposed project will consist of two three-story buildings, one on the east corner of the lot and the other along Stevens Creek Boulevard. The two buildings will have retail businesses facing Stevens Creek Boulevard and residential units above.

A wide selection of housing units distinguishes this mixed-use project from others. It offers one-bedroom and two-bedroom lofts, two-bedroom townhouses, and two-bedroom and three-bedroom flats. The house prices will range between $450,000 and $550,000.

"I like the variety of units of the project," said Planning Commission Vice Chairman Taghi Saadati. "It adds housing diversity to Cupertino."

Menlo Equities started entertaining the idea of developing the current parking lot about a year ago and had a joint study session with the city council and the planning commission in August.

The project originally proposed having more units and less open space and required several exceptions to the Heart of the City Specific Plan. But the proposal didn't get the nod from the city council members and planning commissioners at the August meeting. So the developer revised the project, although it still needs an exception to the Heart of the City Specific Plan to allow building heights above 36 feet to a maximum of 44 feet and rezoning of the property for residential use.

The revised project will have 30,000 square feet of open space, a 50-percent increase from the original proposal. The new buildings will have six interior courtyards. At the northeast corner of Wolfe Road and Stevens Creek, there will be a plaza with landscaping, benches, a sculpture and special paving. The exterior plazas on Stevens Creek Boulevard will be decorated with landscaping, pedestrian lighting, outdoor dining and water features.

Although the project's target customers are pre-children and post-children families, both Cupertino Union School District and Fremont Union High School District have confirmed that they are able to accommodate the possible addition of students.

The developer estimates that if the city council approves the project at its Nov. 17 meeting, it will start the construction in April 2004 and put the houses up for sale in the summer of 2005.