Gilroy
– Tractors are parked in the vacant lot next to Platinum
Theaters in South Gilroy, awaiting a planning commission vote on
detailed maps for a new housing and commercial complex.
Gilroy – Tractors are parked in the vacant lot next to Platinum Theaters in South Gilroy, awaiting a planning commission vote on detailed maps for a new housing and commercial complex.
Developer James Suner will ask commissioners Thursday for approval of plans for 11th Street Commons, a 94-unit mix of business space and homes that he calls a cornerstone of downtown revitalization efforts. Early last year, commissioners and city councilmen gave Suner an initial round of approvals to move forward with the project.
The development blends 24 live-work lofts and 70 townhomes with 14 commercial offices on the vacant lot next to the movie theater, just south of the intersection of Monterey and 10th streets. The lofts and office space will face Monterey Street while the townhomes will lie at the rear of the seven-acre parcel.
The homes are targeted for young professionals, empty nesters, single parents – the exact people Suner says are needed to help breathe life back into the city’s historic downtown.
“You need 1,000 to 2,000 residential units within a 10 to 15 minute walk of the downtown core,” said Suner, a member of a task force that crafted development guidelines to revitalize the area. “The historic downtown core didn’t develop enough residential to support neighborhood retail. Now we can’t compete with outlets and shopping centers to the east. The idea with this site, the cannery and other opportunity sites, is to increase the number of residents. It’s a support mechanism for the downtown.”
Suner is responsible for roughly a dozen small projects around Gilroy, though this one is his largest to date. The developer helped shape the Downtown Specific Plan, a broad set of guidelines at the heart of efforts to revitalize the city’s historic business core.
“I think it’s a beneficial project from the standpoint of a number of professional buildings going in there, and I think there is a need in Gilroy for more of those type of offices,” said Planning Commission Chairman Tim Day. “It’s also a project that has a number of components – not only the offices but the living spaces.”
If approved by commissioners and then council, construction could begin by summer 2007, with the homes going on sale by June 2008. The townhomes are expected to range in price from $400,000 to $500,000, according to Suner, who said the lofts would sell for less.
The project will include 4.4 acres of green space – more than half the total acreage.
