Temple says Willowbrae land will go to developer, not seniors

Congregation Sinai says county acted too slowly in deal on senior housing

By Chantal Lamers

An agreement between the Santa Clara County Housing Authority and Congregation Sinai to build a senior housing complex at 1528 Willowbrae Ave. appears to have fallen through. The congregation now plans to sell the valuable piece of land to developers.

Michelle McGurk, chief of staff for District 6 Councilman Frank Fiscalini, says representatives from Palo Alto-based Summerhill Homes may purchase the tree-filled parcel of land. Summerhill builds mostly single family homes and town houses.

The temple owns the four-acre lot and originally planned on leasing the land to the county for 65 years. However, Barry Mirkin, a member of the congregation and volunteer on the project's steering committee, says the contract has expired.

Mirkin says the congregation had no plans to back out of the contract. But when the contract expired, developers began approaching the congregation, offering large sums of money it couldn't refuse.

"It was a very tough decision to go ahead and reverse the decision we held onto for a very long time," he says.

Had the plan with the county continued, a three-story building with 90 one-bedroom units would have been built. Tenants would have been low-income seniors, 62 and older, who are able to live on their own. The rent would have been below-market price of less than $700 a month.

He says the process between the county and congregation had continued for about a year.

"It was taking so long to go through the county," he says.

Mirkin said many members of the congregation objected to selling the land to developers. "It was really tough to move from the lease concept to the selling concept."

After lengthy discussions among congregation members, Mirkin said the congregation decided it could accomplish more by selling the property.

"Land values have gone up significantly." he says. "The price was more than we expected."

Two community meetings between residents, congregation members and county officials have been held since December.

When the senior housing complex was proposed, neighbors were worried about parking, traffic and the fate of a dry Los Gatos Creek bed that runs through the property.

McGurk says if the land is purchased by Summerhill or any other agency, developers will hold community meetings before getting approval to build.

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