Sand Hill wins approval for 2,700 homes in Cupertino

Sand Hill Property has won the go-ahead to build nearly 2,700 homes at an urban village in Cupertino.

The Palo Alto-based developer led by Peter Pau was approved by the City Council for revised plans for the 51-acre project at 10123 North Wolfe Road, the San Jose Mercury News and Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

The $4 billion project, called The Rise, is a decade in the making and will replace the former Vallco Mall at North Wolfe Road and Stevens Creek Boulevard, not far from Interstate 280.

The approval came two months after Sand Hill asked the city if it could scale back plans approved in 2018, with 1 million square feet fewer offices, shops and restaurants, and more homes. Some 240-foot-tall residential towers were also scrubbed.

“The market forces that have continued to impact projects across the Bay Area over the past 18 months have pushed us all to new levels of creativity and adaptability,” Reed Moulds, managing director for Sand Hill Properties, said in a statement.

Plans now call for 2,669 homes, including 890 homes for low-income households. That’s an 11.1 percent increase from the 2,402 homes initially proposed.

Sand Hill also wants to include 1.95 million square feet of offices, 1.4 percent less than originally planned, and 226,400 square feet of shops and restaurants, a 53.4 percent decrease.

The developer also heeded changes requested by the community, such as nixing the 240-foot apartment towers and the world’s largest “green roof.”

The new proposal remains compliant with Senate Bill 35, a state law the developer invoked to override local opposition to the project. Passed in 2017, the measure requires a percentage of homes be set aside for households making below 80 percent of the area median income.

The Rise will satisfy about half of Cupertino’s state-mandated housing goal in the next seven years.

The state requires Cupertino plan for 4,588 homes by 2031, including 1,193 units for very low-income households, and 687 for low-income households.

— Dana Bartholomew