A 96-unit condominium building recently broke ground at 1821 Almaden Road in Willow Glen.

Known as Almaden Terrace, the building will be five stories tall at the front side and four stories on the back side to be less intrusive to neighbors. It will contain 45,000 square feet and offer almost 200 parking spots in an underground and at-level parking garage. It will also feature a pool, gym, community room and other high-end amenities.

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March 4, 2015 Willow Glen: Condo proposal for quiet area has neighbors concerned Building condos for sale is “rare in the market” because most homes built today in Silicon Valley are either rental or single-family houses, according to developer Erik Schoennauer, who worked with SiliconSage Builders on the project.

Ever since the housing crash nearly 10 years ago, Schoennauer said, the “market has shifted to large-scale developments that are rental housing. That’s just how the market trended.”

Podium-style housing like Almaden Terrace is more expensive than wood townhouses, he said, making them a less attractive option for developers. Such buildings require extensive digging to build underground parking garages and an all-or-nothing approach to construction.

“You have to build the whole thing at once,” he said. “Unlike someone building single-family or town homes, you can build them as you go. You can’t do that with a mid-rise or high-rise building.”

Though Almaden Terrace condos won’t be cheap, Schoennauer said they should be ideal for some first-time home buyers and other residents who may not be able to afford a more expensive house in the area.

“That’s the benefit here; they’re relatively affordable,” he said. “Someone could buy a unit in our building, generally for less than the single-family homes that are in Willow Glen. It gives more people an opportunity, especially…first-time buyers to get into the for-sale market.”

Because the property is situated close to the Guadalupe River, SiliconSage dedicated a small portion of it for the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s plan to eventually widen the river for flood control.

“We worked with the water district and the city to ensure the building was located outside the future flood improvement area,” Schoennauer said.

Neighbors will benefit from Almaden Terrace as well, he said. The city has required SiliconSage to build new curbs, gutters and sidewalks and add trees and streetlights in front “so it’ll look like a modern city frontage with a safe and pleasant place for people to walk.”

“Right now there’s no sidewalk, even on that stretch of Almaden,” Schoennauer said. “The asphalt just turns to dirt, so it’s very substandard.”

Construction should take about a year, and developers hope to move in tenants by the second half of 2018.