By Robert Haugh
The Clara at 5150 Calle Del Sol is 22 stories tall. It’s now Santa Clara’s tallest building, with 508 apartments. On April 9, the building had its ribbon-cutting ceremony in the Mission City’s hottest new neighborhood.
“All of us are going to remember this day,” Mayor Lisa Gillmor. She sees the new district as a key step toward a “live, work, play” destination.
Amenities at The Clara include a 75-foot lap pool, hot tub, cold plunges, sauna, and gym. Next door is Ellore, a 176-unit senior living complex.
Both projects cost Related California $700 million and offer 30,000 square feet of retail space.
City Staff expects more than $37 million in development fees and affordable housing subsidies from these projects.
Residents began moving into The Clara in March. Ellore’s first move-ins arrived this month.
Related California bought the property in 2014 and secured entitlements by 2019. Construction was delayed in 2020, then began in 2022.
Other developers have added to the Clara District. Summerhill Apartment Communities opened The Lafayette in January, adding 347 apartments at 2333 Calle Del Mundo. In February, Ensemble Investments debuted AVE with 311 units. Altogether, seven residential towers are reshaping the district.
The Northside’s “Clara District” is on-track to add seven high rises in six months, delivering about 2,000 new homes.
“It’s rewarding to see [the Clara District] come to life and also see a critical mass,” Related’s Nick Vanderboom said.
“It will really come to life a year or a year and a half from now when every apartment is occupied, and you’ve got probably 3,000-plus people living in this neighborhood.”
We need more housing of every type everywhere. This area building up is a genuine success, but it is sad there’s more building of housing in Santa Clara than in San Francisco or just about any bay area community. We need YIMBY policies everywhere, and doing so near public transit (light rail) makes a lot of sense. More please.
So much for “affordable” housing:
https://theclara.com/residences/
Price are $3170 to $10650/month.
This type of building really does not fit the surrounding area and to me is an eye sore.
I know that Related is huge developer and they do first rate projects. These buildings look fantastic. Can we get them to take over revitalizing our downtown? I know it’s an amateur group working on the downtown. So I guess I shouldn’t complain. You get what you pay for. But there’s nothing happening. It’d by nice of some major developers took over and do downtown what they’re doing in North Santa Clara.
responding to ML — there’s a big difference between the northside and downtown. you can build high in the north because there are few single family neighborhoods. can’t do the same downtown. that being said you raise a good point. there’s no progress downtown. lots of planning and lots of talking but no real action. no investment. developers don’t like the plans or they’d build something. pretty pathetic
With the high cost of housing, it’s good that the city is building more residential units. It’d be better, though, for the city to emphasize the building of condominiums rather than apartments. To the extent that they are owner-occupied condos promote more permanence and a sense of community than apartments do. And on a selfish note, my wife and I would like our daughters and their friends to have the option of buying a place in Santa Clara before they are middle aged.