September 4, 2026
University Station: 408 Homes Beside Santa Clara Caltrain
Santa Clara planning staff back a 408-home project across from the Caltrain station, but 0.94 acres of it is in San Jose. What the annexation means, who the 62 affordable homes are for, and how a new townhome here compares with a resale in East Central.
The most interesting acre in University Station is the one that is not in Santa Clara. City planning staff have recommended approval of the 408-home project at 451 to 475 El Camino Real, the aging office campus directly across the tracks from the Santa Clara Caltrain station, and the Planning Commission took it up on September 2, 2026. Before any of it can be built, 0.94 acres of the site has to leave San Jose.
That sliver is why the entitlement package has four parts instead of the usual two, and why the timeline runs through two city halls and a county commission. It is also, in our view, the best-located for-sale housing Santa Clara has put in front of a vote in years.
The short version: 297 apartments and 111 for-sale townhomes on 10.96 acres between El Camino Real and the rail corridor. About 62 of the 408 homes would carry income restrictions. No City Council date has been set as of September 4.
Why 0.94 acres of San Jose is holding up 408 homes
The city line runs through the property. Per the Draft EIR, 10.02 acres sit in Santa Clara and 0.94 acres sit in San Jose, and the San Jose piece can only be reached through the Santa Clara side. The plans put 13 of the 111 townhomes on that piece, so building one community instead of two means moving the parcel across the line.
Annexation is a relay, not one vote. Santa Clara first pre-designates the parcel as Regional Mixed Use and pre-zones it Mixed Use Regional Commercial, which is what the commission was asked to recommend on September 2. The applicant then files a detachment request with San Jose, and the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission makes the final call. Council approval is step one, not the finish line.
What annexation changes for a future owner of one of those 13 homes: which police and fire departments respond, which planning counter issues permits, and which city sends the trash bill. What it does not change on its own: school district boundaries, which are drawn separately from city limits. Anyone shopping the San Jose-side townhomes should ask the district office which schools serve that parcel before writing an offer, not after.
What University Station puts at 451 El Camino Real
Three two-story office buildings totaling about 217,000 square feet and two parking garages come down. Newport Beach-based Bixby Land Company has owned the site since 2007, Morley Bros. is running the entitlement, and KTGY drew the plans, according to SF YIMBY. Here are the specs as they appear in the city's environmental documents.
| University Station spec | Detail (per Draft EIR, April 2026) |
|---|---|
| Site | 10.96 acres at 451 to 475 El Camino Real, 10.02 in Santa Clara and 0.94 in San Jose |
| Apartments | 297 units in one five-story building, about 60 feet to the parapet |
| Townhomes | 111 three-story units in 26 buildings, about 38 feet tall, 13 on the San Jose parcel |
| Affordable homes | 15 percent of each component, roughly 45 apartments and 17 townhomes |
| Parking | 359 spaces in a six-level garage for the apartments, two-car garages for every townhome, 12 guest spaces |
| Density | 37.2 homes per acre, the floor of the 37 to 50 range allowed |
| Construction | About 49 months in three phases: 2 months demolition, 15 months townhomes, 32 months apartments |
| Latest hearing | Planning Commission, September 2, 2026 (continued from August 26) |
| Council vote | Not yet scheduled |
Two things stand out. The density sits at the bottom of what Regional Mixed Use allows, so this is not a project straining the zoning. And the townhome phase finishes long before the apartment tower, which means the for-sale homes could be occupied while the garage is still going up next door.
One quirk from the staff report: a driveway reaching Franklin Street puts the site within 200 feet of the historic Santa Clara depot, which is why the Historical and Landmarks Commission weighed in first. Per the staff report it voted 7 to 0 on August 6.
What 15 percent affordable means if you want a townhome
The affordable count here is about 62 homes, not the 82 that circulated when the project was first filed. The December 2023 preliminary application, as SF YIMBY reported at the time, described 82 lower-income units. The Draft EIR now describes 15 percent of the apartments and 15 percent of the townhomes at incomes averaging no more than 100 percent of area median income, with 10 percent of the apartments set aside for lower-income households and 10 percent of the townhomes for moderate-income buyers.
In plain numbers, that is roughly 17 income-restricted townhomes and 45 restricted apartments. The 2026 Santa Clara County income limits put 100 percent of AMI at $205,500 for a household of four and $143,850 for one person. That is a teacher couple with two kids, not a tech IPO story.
Under Santa Clara's Affordable Housing Ordinance, the for-sale units carry resale restrictions for at least 20 years and go through the city's Below Market Purchase Program. Seventeen restricted townhomes at a Caltrain station will draw a very long list, and the townhome phase is the first thing built, so anyone who might qualify should get on the city's interest list early.
A new townhome by the tracks versus a resale in East Central
The station site sits inside what we score as Santa Clara East Central, the college-town grid around Santa Clara University, Franklin Square, and the Mission gardens. It scores 3.6 out of 5 overall, with a 4.0 for amenities and a 3.5 for schools, and its median sale price was about $1.81 million in August 2026. The citywide median was about $1.97 million in July 2026.
Houseberry scores seven Santa Clara neighborhoods, and only one clears 4 out of 5: Santa Clara Southwest at 4.1, where the median was about $2.13 million in August 2026. The rest of the Santa Clara ranking runs Southeast at 3.8, East Central and North Central tied at 3.6, West Central at 3.4, North 101 at 3.3, and South 101 at 2.9. East Central is mid-table on the numbers and top-table on walkability, which is exactly the profile a station-side townhome trades on.
So the real comparison for a buyer is a 1920s bungalow on Bellomy or Lafayette with a yard, against a three-story new build with a two-car garage, a shared wall, an HOA, and Union Pacific freight rolling past at 2 a.m. Bixby has not published pricing, and new townhomes on this stretch of El Camino have no direct comparable yet. The honest downside is that station-adjacent living is loud, and the site sits between the tracks and a state highway. The honest upside is that the bungalow buyer drives to Caltrain and the townhome buyer walks under it.
Caltrain now, BART in the 2030s
The transit is real today, not a rendering. The Santa Clara Transit Center already handles Caltrain, ACE, and Amtrak, and VTA plans its ground-level BART terminus adjacent to the Caltrain station, connected by the existing pedestrian undercrossing. VTA's own schedule shows Phase II construction running through 2036, so anyone moving in around 2030 should count on Caltrain for the first several years and treat BART as the bonus that arrives later.
Given that, 359 garage spaces for 297 apartments, about 1.2 per unit, is generous for a site at the platform. The staff report's own general plan language says to "maximize residential development within walking distance of the Station." A project that builds a six-level garage to do it is a reminder of how much parking still costs Santa Clara housing, even where the transit case is strongest.
The dates that decide it
The next steps are mostly outside Santa Clara's control. A Notice of Preparation went out in May 2025, the Draft EIR circulated April 10 to May 25, 2026, and the Final EIR followed on August 7. The Planning Commission continued the August 26 hearing to September 2, and as of September 4 no outcome or council date has been posted to the city's Legistar calendar.
What happens after a council yes, in order:
- San Jose has to accept a detachment application for the 0.94-acre parcel.
- Santa Clara County LAFCO has to approve the reorganization.
- Architectural review happens at the staff level, not at another public hearing.
- Construction runs about 49 months once permits issue, with townhomes finished in the first year and a half.
This is the second big Santa Clara housing decision this month. The first was the city's move to put 6,000 homes on 45 acres at Tasman East, which lands in a different neighborhood and at nearly three times the density. University Station is the smaller number and the better location, and if it gets a council date this fall, it will be the one to watch. We will update this piece when the vote is set.
Sources
City of Santa Clara, 451 El Camino Real project page
City of Santa Clara, University Station CEQA documents
University Station Draft EIR (April 2026)
CEQAnet, University Station Residential Project
Santa Clara County 2026 income and rent limits
Santa Clara Municipal Code Chapter 17.40, Affordable Housing Requirements
SF YIMBY, Meeting Tonight for 451 El Camino Real (August 2026)
SF YIMBY, New Details for Santa Clara Caltrain-Adjacent Housing (December 2023)
The Registry, Santa Clara Weighs Annexing San Jose Land for 408-Unit University Station
