The high noon sun glinted off of the four gold-plated shovels used to break ground October 13 for the construction of the Downtown Gateway project at 1313 Franklin St., directly across from Franklin Mall, where Neto’s Market & Grill used to be.
The four-story, 44-unit condominium project, covering a little over one acre of a city block, will reflect the design of Santa Clara’s original downtown, which was torn down for ill-fated urban renewal in 1963. Plans include 14,500 square feet of ground-level restaurants and retail shops.
“This is a flagship project to launch our new downtown,” said Mayor Jamie L. Matthews. “We are building for the next generation…and this is a decision that will stand the test of time.”
“I’m very honored and proud about this historic occasion,” said Sanjeev Acharya, founder and CEO of SiliconSage Builders, LLC, developer of Downtown Gateway. “It has been just over three years since we began, from concept to reality.”
“These guys were wonderful,” says Old Quad Residents’ Association president Noreen Carlson. “Development is always scary, but they really listened to our concerns and compromised and made effective changes. They cared about what neighbors thought.”
“I have a 19-month-old son, and I want to be able to say that Downtown Gateway is the project I’m proudest of when my son is nineteen,” said Acharya.
Downtown Gateway condominiums will go on the market in 2016, and it is expected that they will be sold out well before the project is completed sometime in 2017.