Willow Glen Resident

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Condo project will include play area, waterless lawn

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

Infill projects continue to become part of the San Jose landscape, including a proposed 19-unit condominium on Meridian Avenue between Fruitdale Avenue and Curci Drive.

The development will include the construction of five three-story buildings on a half-acre site. The units will be configured as three-bedroom and include balconies.

It will be designed with a raised podium three feet above the sidewalk. This will allow for underground parking for both residents and guests, said MBA Architects project representative Maia Gendreau. There will be 46 sparking spaces, with security gates dividing residential from guest spaces.

The project is in the development stage, but if approved, will allow the developers, Razia and Yaqoob Bhimla, to begin construction, according to San Jose planner Rebekah Ross. Then plans are tentatively scheduled to go before the San Jose planning director by the end of November.

The two parcels--923 and 927 Meridian Ave.--have already been rezoned from commercial/multiple residence to planned development. The rezoning was approved by the San Jose City Council on Aug. 29.

A community meeting took place a year ago, and most of the residents who attended were from the Chai House retirement community. The Chai House will be immediately affected by the adjacent project. However, the residents were supportive of the developer's plans.

The project will include open space, with courtyards connected by "paseos."

There will be a play area for children, game tables and a waterless lawn in the middle of the site between the two rows of buildings.

Ross called the architectural design of the project "exciting and modern." It includes corner towers facing Meridian Avenue.

The developer wants to start construction this fall, with a tentative completion date of late 2008, Gendreau said.

Two existing single-family homes will be demolished, and five large trees will be removed and replaced.