The Cupertino Courier

News

Voters rejected past building plan

By Cody Kraatz

San Mateo-based Sand Hill Properties, a firm with considerable cachet in Cupertino, has purchased the long-vacant 17-acre Hewlett-Packard Co. property near Cupertino Square, which was recently the center of a controversy.

Sand Hill owner Peter Pau said he plans to avoid the issues that arose when Toll Brothers, a national building company, sought to put hundreds of condominiums on the site at Stevens Creek Boulevard and Finch Avenue. Voters defeated that project and one planned for Cupertino Square in 2006, after the Cupertino City Council approved them.

"We know what happened on the site before," said Pau, citing the impact of housing on Cupertino's cherished school district as the root of the earlier opposition. "Obviously we don't want to go down that path and create more problems. We don't expect our plan to be very controversial."

While they are very rough and conceptual at this point, Pau said that those plans could include a hotel, retail shops, a fitness club, offices and senior housing. He added that the ratio of these various pieces has not been determined and that not all of them will fit.

Meanwhile, the city has stated an intention to require Sand Hill to pay for a South Vallco Master Plan along with its own development proposal.

But Pau said he does not want to pay for the whole plan just because he is the first developer with a new proposal, and that all the property owners in the area

should be required to participate.

"The important thing is that this needs to work together, needs to be a seamless sort of development strategy where Cupertino Square and the HP property work together as if they were one," said Steve Piasecki, Cupertino's community development director.

As required by the city's General Plan, the master plan would help set a precise mix of land uses according to pedestrian-oriented design guidelines that fit in with the surrounding neighborhoods.

The city, which has not settled who will pay for the plan, would choose a consultant and manage the planning process, which could begin as soon as a plan is submitted and take two to three months. Cupertino Mayor Dolly Sandoval said since voters overturned the Toll Brothers project, which she voted for, the city must hear from property owners, neighbors and businesses to find an appropriate project.

Pau has a good track record of listening to communities, he knows Cupertino well and he works with local government, she added.

Neither Sand Hill nor HP would disclose how much the property sold for, but its 2007 assessed value was about $46 million. The deal closed on Feb. 11 or 12.

Previously, the city met with about 30 developers interested in the site, although it is unknown how many actual bid on it.

The developer is also working on the redevelopment of downtown Sunnyvale and the Cupertino Landing office building at 10495 N. De Anza Blvd., and has proposals coming for The Oaks shopping center on Stevens Creek near Highway 85.

His previous projects in Cupertino include the newly opened Whole Foods at 20830 Stevens Creek Blvd. and Cupertino Village at N. Wolfe and Homestead roads.