Mayor of Cupertino abandons housing at Vallco, pushing for a retail-dominant complex at Vallco Mall

Below is an email from Reed Moulds, the Managing Director of Sand Hill Property Company:

Mayor abandons housing at Vallco, pushing for a retail-dominant complex at Vallco Mall, on eve of Vallco Specific Plan community engagement kick-off (please attend!)

Dear neighbor:

Wednesday night, during his State of the City address, Mayor Darcy Paul put forward his "personal" opinion of the future of Vallco. Unfortunately, his future looks to recreate past failures and calls for a retail-dominant mall with some office and little to no housing. If you haven’t seen his speech, you can watch it here.

His vision for the Vallco planning area is an inefficient 1.2 million square foot project, less than what exists today, where at least half of the space – 600,000 feet – would be reserved for retail.

Needless to say, such a project is infeasible and not supported by the market, and it just ensures that Vallco will not be revitalized and remain a vacant, dead mall. With his focus on retail and office, and accounting for the new hotel already being built there by another developer, his proposal doesn’t leave a lot of space for residential use. By ignoring the need for housing at Vallco – Cupertino’s best opportunity to provide real solutions to the housing crisis – the Mayor fails to acknowledge the single greatest challenge facing our region and the City of Cupertino, which happens to be the region’s most unaffordable city.

In October, compelled to address this unprecedented housing crisis, we requested that the City analyze alternatives to add significant housing through a Vallco Specific Plan and reduce housing demand generators like office and retail uses.

The timing of the Mayor’s statements about Vallco – which threaten to influence this planning process before the community engagement on the Vallco Specific Plan has even started – is irresponsible and disappointing. That is why we, once again, are asking for your help.

Next week on Monday, February 5, 2018 from 6 pm to 8:30 pm the City is hosting a “Vallco Specific Plan Kick-off Meeting” at Community Hall, a.k.a. Council Chambers. At this meeting the City’s planning consultant, Opticos Design, will further explain the Specific Plan, discuss the range of outcomes and ask the community to talk about their perspective on the future of Vallco.

With this note, we want to encourage you all to attend this first in a series of community meetings. Your voice is needed on the future of Vallco. The Opticos team should hear what the majority view of Cupertino is and how a smart and dynamic town center plan with a good mix of uses will benefit the City, the community and everyone who lives, works and is a visitor in Cupertino.

For our part, we are convinced more than ever that Vallco offers a unique opportunity to help address the region’s housing shortage and affordability crisis, while adding greatly to the lives of those of you who are already settled here. A sustainable mixed-use plan that includes shopping, dining, a cutting-edge entertainment district, community facilities, great streets and outdoor spaces, a meaningful amount of housing and a manageable amount of office has the tremendous potential to turn a lifeless part of the city into a vibrant and community-driven new downtown district. And let’s not forget that, absent significant mitigations, the most traffic-sensitive proposals are the ones where there is a balance among the different uses, not the ones that are office- or retail-heavy.

All around us, other cities throughout Silicon Valley are already setting examples. Delaying or undermining Vallco’s revitalization is a lose-lose strategy, not just for the landowner but for the Cupertino community as well. Let’s all help Cupertino’s decision-makers see the benefit of a realistic plan for Vallco through a collaborative planning process; my hope is this would have the dual benefit of preventing the partisan few from trying to sway it. But if supporters of true revitalization don’t show up and let themselves be heard, given the Mayor’s mindset, this process certainly cannot succeed.

We will continue to send updates throughout the rest of the process. Once again, thank you for your support.

Reed Moulds
Managing Director
Sand Hill Property Company

Apple's New Campus could cover a part of Pruneridge Avenue

Apple's huge 12,000 employee new campus could erase part of Pruneridge Avenue, splitting the remaining portions in two.

Steve Jobs spoke in the Cupertino City Council chamber on June 7th to announce the plans for Apple's new state-of-the-art campus in Cupertino on the site of what is now Hewlett-Packard. Job's slideshow presentation showed the site before and after. Pruneridge Avenue disappears once the gigantic ringed campus moves in.

The current HP campus is bounded by N. Wolfe and Homestead Roads and Pruneridge and N. Tantau Avenues. Pruneridge cuts through the middle of an area surrounded by what is now almost all Apple property, except for the Hamptons Apt Homes.

The Hewlett-Packard site is on the corner of Pruneridge Ave and N. Wolfe Road. Last year, HP announced it would combine its Cupertino operations with its Palo Alto campus. Apple purchases the land in late 2010. HP expects to move out completely by 2012.

Apple wants to break ground in 2012 and move into the new campus in 2015. The Infinite Loop campus near De Anza and 280 will continue to house its 2,600 employees.

Apple now owns 180 acres in Cupertino in and around the proposed new campus, according to the city. Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong says the project could get its first public hearing during a planning commission meeting in fall 2012.

Foursquare for Real Estate?

What is Foursquare? In the founders' own words “foursquare is a cross between (1) a friend-finder, (2) a social city-guide and (3) a game that rewards you for doing interesting things.
We aim to build things to not only help you keep up with the places your friends go, but that encourage you to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways.”

Basically, Foursquare is a GPS-enabled game. When you arrive at a business, you "check in". By checking in, you:
1. See if any of your connected friends are at or near the same location
2. Discover and/or share tips about the business(es) at that location
3. Earn points toward becoming virtual "Mayor".

Foursquare could provide some relevant feedback if you are a location owner. At the very least, you can follow who has been checking into your establishment. Better yet, if the customers leave feedback, you know what good features you can promote and what areas of improvement you need to work on. Since most check-ins are merely check-ins, you need to make giving feedback fun.

Can Foursquare be used for real estate? Here are some possibilities:

1. Add your listings to Foursquare as a tracking and feedback mechanism. Encourage your visitors to “check in” and leave their feedback. This is another way to get worthwhile information to your seller.

2. Track attendance at office tours, caravans or meetings.

3. Work to become Mayor of a particular neighborhood. This could be of some value on a listing presentation. As Mayor, you advertise yourself as the area expert.

Creative Realtors can distinguish themselves by finding fun, engaging and professional ways to incorporate Foursquare into their business plan.