In what it called a “monumental” change, Swenson Builders lopped off more than 50 feet of height from a planned tower complex in Los Gatos and reduced the homes count by 262 units. It has now submitted a formal application to the Town of Los Gatos for the “Residence at Newtown” development, which sits at 238 units, including 47 to be made available at an “affordable” price to lower-income residents.
The proposal has shifted from one reminiscent of a hospital or corporate office campus—much larger than the Netflix Global HQ at the northern reaches of the community—to something that’s more in line with the basic tech-condo modernism pervading the design world.
On a Reddit post titled “What current design trend will age badly?” submitted to the r/architecture subreddit about a month ago, the top comment (with about 1.5k likes) was a reply from @liberal_texan, who offered, “What I call ‘bent modern’, where the main design feature is a plane with a single 90 degree bend.” Others commented on the proliferation of the “millennial greige” aesthetic, typified in TikTok and Instagram postings where users share housing imagery replete with off-whites, beiges and various shades of gray.
As Swenson’s vision for Los Gatos Boulevard is fleshed-out, it’s clear the company is falling in line with this particular architectural worldview, in a corner of Silicon Valley that’s quite fond of its unique design heritage.
The company’s literally planning on using such colors as “Steamed Milk” for stucco, “Colonnade Gray” for James Hardie panels and “Matt Beige” for tiling.
It’s a far cry from San Francisco’s Painted Ladies that continue to draw travelers and acclaim to that corner of the Bay Area.
However, the buildings the Residence at Newtown would replace are already in gray-on-gray (with brown-shingled roof) presentation, home to companies like Erik’s Deli Cafe, Gaeta’s Flowers, SPENGA’s Los Gatos gym, as well as a massage business and a nail salon. It’s next to a McDonald’s surrounded by asphalt parking stalls.
Swenson put in its preliminary application on March 5, stating it would claim benefits under the Builder’s Remedy process—a penalty allowed because the Town didn’t hand-in a passable homes plan to the State by deadline, last year.
For its formal application, dropped to the Community Development Department’s inbox Aug. 30, the developer reminded Los Gatos there’s little the community can do to stymie their plans.
“We would like to emphasize that this project is protected by the Housing Accountability Act…which is a housing production statute that aims to address the critical problem of housing scarcity in the state by limiting the local government’s ability to deny or reduce housing development projects meeting housing needs,” Mark Pilarczyk, Swenson’s vp of development, wrote. “Since the Town did not have a substantially compliant…Housing Element at the time the Preliminary Application was filed and the Project is a housing development that will provide 20 percent of its units to lower-income households, the Project is protected by the Builder’s Remedy.”
And, unlike many of the other developers who launched SB330 applications in Los Gatos’ delinquent period, Swenson, which was behind the well-liked Aptos Village center, has already been conducting public outreach.
On June 14, the firm voluntarily met with neighbors from the surrounding subdivision, and included a report on the seven-person gathering with its application.
It reported to the Town it showed two other proposals for Los Gatos Boulevard—The Luxe and The Arya, both more than 100-feet-tall—to demonstrate its project isn’t out-of-line with what’s currently in-the-works at other corporate design departments.
But the company added it knows the mass reduction (from a 12-story configuration) will not be enough for many residents.
“Although Swenson voluntarily made the changes noted above to develop a product that fits within the community, the residential neighbors would like to see no new development or at a maximum a 3-story building,” a company official wrote. “As you are aware, under SB330, this process is streamlined but we wanted to go above and beyond to show our due process.”
It says it’s “not able to further reduce the proposed project,” but it pledged to remain “in communication with the neighbors to incorporate some of their design ideas” to address screening and other visual concerns.
“We hope these efforts go a long way with the Town and community as we feel our project is much better suited for this site than many other SB 330 applications throughout the Town,” the rep added.
The article about Swenson reducing the height of their proposed building is NOT true. The original pre-qpplication submitted in March was 7 stories. The ‘final’ plans for the building submitted on Aug 30 are still 7 stories!!!
Exactly! This article is a lie! The original proposal was 7 stories and still is! As a journalist, how do you not fact check?
This is outrageous. As a long time resident, it makes me sick to watch our local politicians erode the quality of life in LG by approving all development proposals – which we all know line their pockets – and impose overcrowding with no attention paid to expansion of infrastructure. I’m disgusted with our local “government”.