Silicon Valley Transit Agency Plans to Turn HQ Into Housing

When the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority moves its headquarters from North San Jose to Downtown, it’ll leave 200,000-square feet of offices the agency wants to raze for homes.

After cutting a deal for a new 17-story office tower, the VTA has decided to demolish its current hub at River Oaks campus at 3331 North First Street for more than a thousand homes, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

This week, the transit agency approved the undisclosed purchase terms for Almaden Crossing at 488 South Almaden Boulevard. It plans to move into the 379,000-square-foot building in 2026.

If the talks fall through for Almaden Crossing , the VTA has picked an office complex in North San Jose at 1650-1700 Technology Drive as a backup site, according to the agency.

That will leave stacks of vacant offices at its current 17-acre headquarters, which the VTA says will be demolished, an unidentified spokesperson told the Business Times.

The agency plans to lease the ground for transit-oriented development projects, but has yet to identify a developer that could lead the project.

The property is large enough for 1,300 new homes, according to Jessie O’Malley Solis, director of VTA real estate and transit-oriented development.

San Jose has not kept pace with its state-mandated plan to build 62,200 by 2031, city reports show.

At the same time, the VTA’s move from one headquarters to another will do little to alleviate a troubled office market, with a record high for empty offices across the region, depressing prices.

In the third quarter, Silicon Valley had a vacancy of 22 percent, a local record, according to JLL.

— Dana Bartholomew