The biggest development in Santa Clara’s history has morphed to include light industrial use that will likely be used to host data centers.
At its meeting July 8, the Santa Clara City Council narrowly accepted a proposal from Related Santa Clara, the developer of the proposed massive 240-acre mixed-use development to be located at 5155 Stars and Stripes Dr. near Levi’s Stadium.
Related’s proposal asked the city to allow a large portion of the site originally earmarked for office space to be converted into industrial use. A portion of that office space will be incorporated into the mixed-use retail segment of the development.
The development will retain its 1,680 apartments, 15% of which will have rents set as 100% area median income (AMI) — as opposed to the previous 10% of units at 120% (AMI).
“These revisions are designed to preserve the city’s long-term oversight and public commitments, provide flexibility to advance early phases of the development, adjust rent obligations specific to data center uses and update the performance schedule to align with current economic conditions,” said City Manager Jovan Grogan.
The site will feature 800,000 sq. ft. of retail, 700 hotel rooms and 1.6 million sq. ft. of industrial use. Although no tenant has been secured, that industrial use could accommodate uses such as research laboratories, commercial storage or manufacturing. A majority of the area is likely to be used to house data centers.
Steve Eimer, executive vice president with Related, told the council that several force majeure events — extraordinary events out of the developer’s control — have waylaid the project.
Among those were delays in regulatory approvals, the collapse of First Republic Bank — with whom Related had a lease — the stalling of construction on a Silicon Valley Power (SVP) substation that is supposed to supply power to the development and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The increase to the project’s below-market-rate housing reinforces the city’s housing access and equity, said Afshan Hamid, community and economic development director. Additionally, she said, the changes “allow for the preservation of the City Center vision,” allowing the city to “keep the heart of the project as a regional mixed-use focal point.”
“This adjustment would introduce a greater amount of flexibility with the plan, creating new opportunities for economic development and position the city to a wider range of technology and innovation-based companies, and it also enhances the city’s ability to remain adaptive and competitive in a dynamic and regional economy,” she said.
Any data centers built on the site would pay double ground rent to the city. While public comments supported the project overall, many worried it would exacerbate already dire parking issues in the area.
Representatives from the city’s BMX track that sits in the footprint of part of the development spoke. They asked Related to consider giving the operator 18 months notice as per the original agreement instead of the year notice contained in the changes — a request to which Related agreed.
Despite public support, some council members weren’t thrilled with the changes.
Council Member Suds Jain said the city got a raw deal and should have been getting more money over the years while Related was unable to build.
“We wanted Santana Row on steroids. We are not getting that. We haven’t gotten that for a long time. We are going to get data centers first,” Jain said. “I don’t understand why we haven’t been paid any money for any of the other parcels.”
Jain also said he didn’t like that the agreement failed to obligate Related’s adherence to the city’s climate action plan, which he was instrumental in getting adopted. He said he couldn’t support the proposal until he was sure any data center built on the property would be carbon-free.
Vice Mayor Kelly Cox accused some of her council colleagues of “posturing,” saying “we don’t get to create a retail wish-list.”
“This, to me, isn’t a developer whim. This is responding to a necessity. This isn’t an act of practicality or preference. This is what we need to do,” she said.
She called the potential for data centers in the project its “financial backbone” and accused others of “getting in the weeds.”
Council Member Kevin Park joined Jain’s dissent, countering Cox’s characterization.
“These changes, they are not weeds,” he said. “They are actually the future of this city and of climate and of resources, and if those are weeds, then we are going to live in weeds, because these are the important things we need to consider when we have these projects.”
After Cox moved that the council approve the proposal, Jain moved the same motion but with a mandate that data centers be carbon-free.
That motion failed in a 3-4 vote, with Jain, Park and Council Member Raj Chahal supporting it. But Council Members Karen Hardy and Albert Gonzalez explained that they were unsure how the council could ensure that, especially if the development were going to secure energy from SVP.
Cox’s original motion passed in a 4-3 vote, with Jain, Park and Chahal dissenting.
Consent Calendar Spending
The council approved the following spending in one motion via the consent calendar:
- A $4.08 million contract with O’Grady Paving, Inc. for bikeway and pavement rehabilitation.
- A $1 million purchase/service agreement with Doble Engineering Company for test equipment, software and service. The agreement goes through March 2030.
- A five-year, $2.5 million contract with Peninsula Crane and Rigging for Silicon Valley Power for crane services.
- A $2 million purchase order with ESC Spectrum (ESC) for Data Acquisition and Handling System for data acquisition and historian system support and maintenance at SVP.
- A $558,000 contract with Arrow Fencing for emergency operations center security upgrades.
- A $261,256 increase to an agreement with N. Harris Computer Corp. for NorthStar customer connect portal integration with CyberSource and the energyIP integration modernization. Total contract is now $1.03 million with authority to the city manager to increase that total by another $300,000.
- An “urgency ordinance” to award $20 million to “various vendors in connection with the implementation of security measures” at city sites. The consent calendar does not list the vendors, and the contracts did not go out to bid.
The next regularly scheduled meeting is 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 15 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara.
Members of the public can participate in the Santa Clara City Council meetings on Zoom at https://santaclaraca.zoom.us/j/99706759306; Meeting ID: 997-0675-9306 or call 1 (669) 900-6833, via the City’s eComment (available during the meeting) or by email to PublicComment@santaclaraca.gov.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
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There needs to be a major investigation into the dealings of the Related Company and the deals they have created with the City of Santa Clara. Numerous delays year after year. A decade later what does this company has never delivered.
In a close 4-3 vote one helps but wonder if former Councilmember Anthony Becker was still there that this vote would have failed. Related Company; spin doctor consultant Jude Barry; City Staff and Mayor Gillmor all knew this. Jain, Chahal and Becker were all on the Planning Commission during the beginnings of this project and knew the background, those 3 votes plus Councilmember Park would equal Related having to actually pay up and build. So one begins to wonder if this was the reason to get Becker, Jain, Chahal or Park off the council to get this result. Ultimately, The Gillmor mafia were successful by getting Becker convicted and off the council. In fact the project amendment was supposed to be before the City Council in Fall 2024 yet Related Company & City Staff opted to wait till after the elections (when Councilmember Becker was gone by either conviction, loss of election or both).
Why did former Councilmember Becker’s vote and presence make all the difference? It’s easy, you just have to connect the dots. In 2022, the Civil Grand Jury released a report the day after Councilmember Becker and the rest of the City Council held Mayor Gillmor’s feet to the fire about her letter to Governor Newsom about getting a break for her backer, Related. The City Council voted in favor of a motion for a discussion to Censure of Mayor Gillmor for overstepping her bounds (something that never came back to Council after a passing vote.) The civil grand jury was stacked with members favorable to Mayor Gillmor and her candidates running for City Council. For example, three City of Santa Clara Civil Grand Jurors; one who had a Teresa O’Neill yard sign in their yard; another member a neighbor and friend of Teresa O’Neil and lastly another member who had David Kertes sign in their yard.
The flawed Civil Grand Jury report was publicly released days later which happened to be the same day ballots arrived in mailboxes for the 2022 Mayor and Council elections. Mayor Gillmor admits knowing all of this knowledge in her testimony along with her in-depth knowledge of how grand jury’s work, how to get reports out and lastly how Santa Clarans vote. She even testified that she was on a Civil Grand Jury in 1991 that released a report critical of the jails which followed when Gillmor didn’t get her way on a vote related to the prisons. In 2022 Mayor Gillmor was desperate to win the Mayor’s race against Anthony Becker who she called “a nobody”. She was looking like she was gonna lose and had to retain her power. The 2022 Civil Grand Jury report was rushed to be released to save and maintain Gillmor’s power when Becker looked to play the upset. They were that worried. The two 2024 Grand Jury reports were released for Gillmor to take the power back, which was successful and unsuccessful at the time (Becker out, Jain Damaged, Gonzalez in and Cox in).
How much you wanna bet all the Grand Jury Interviews and complaints from 2022 and 2024 reports were coordinated and encouraged by Mayor Gillmor and Jude Barry to benefit Related in the long run. It is almost guaranteed the ones who made false complaints to the civil grand jury are James Rowen, Deanna Santana, Brian Doyle, Teresa O’Neill, Debbie Tyforos, Kirk Vartan, Dana Caldwell, Burt Field, and plenty more. Just look at who called in and showed up in support of the Related Project. It was James Rowen under his fake name who posted on the Gillmor supported Robert Haugh’s blog before the 2022 report that he “needed more people to file complaints to be taken seriously”. They were planning this months before. I guess it’s easy to manipulate when you have a grand juror living across the street from Teresa O’Neill. It is pretty obvious. Did anyone know that the Civil Grand Jury does not require these interviews and complaints to be under oath, so basically they can lie, and the grand jury can print the lie and the media can run with the lie. What about Quintin Kopp sending letters to Becker in advance of charges? Both Kopp and Rowen are pen pals and Kopp is a go-to guy when it comes to Grand Juries.
Riddler, you were close. Just want to set the record straight, James Rowen actually said using his pen name of ‘John Galt’, “Btw, the county Civil Grand Jury got a complaint filed against Jain Becker and Park. But is thin. It needs 6 more people complaint is about 49er meetings attacking Field attacking Mayor it needs 6 Santa Clara residents”. Sounds pretty coordinated to me. Where is the DA?
What was interesting at the meeting the other night was that those who spoke on behalf of supporting the amendment were individuals Related and the Police Union Supported like Larry McCollogh (2022 Candidate against Raj Chahal) and David Kertes (2024 Candidate against Suds Jain). Other supporters included a letter read into the record from Dana Caldwell, President of Stand up for Santa Clara, a fake non profit that was invented by Lisa Gillmor and Jude Barry. Finally, the icing on the cake, former Police Chief and former Police Union President Pat Nikolai called in to support the project. Well that’s interesting, Related and Santa Clara Police Union have all their candidates they supported (Kertes, McCollugh) there in favor of the project and two sitting elected individuals who benefitted from the Police Union and Related political money was Mayor Gillmor and Vice Mayor Cox. Additionally, another big factor is Police Chief Pat Nikolai in 2022 was the first to send a letter to District Attorney Jeff Rosen the day of the 2022’s grand jury reports public release asking him to investigate the Councilmembers named in the report (Becker, Jain, Park, Chahal, Hardy) in which his Police Union was using as a political October Surprise with Gillmor and Jude Barry. Fun Fact is, District Attorney Jeff Rosen endorsed Pat Nikolai for Police Chief in 2020, and Rosen also endorsed Satish Chandra who was running to replace Kathy Wataanbe in 2024. Satish too was supported by Related and the Santa Clara Police Union.
Way too many coincidences right ?
It is known that in 2022 Mayor Gillmor sent the confidential grand jury report minutes after getting it to her personal email then texted Jude Barry “Check your email”. Kathy Watanabe Admits she leaked it to her husband and her husband Karl Watanabe lied to the authorities that his wife Kathy didn’t leak it by sharing it with him. Within days of that Jude Barry was communicating with Santa Clara Police Union President Jeremy Schmidt about the Confidential Grand Jury report which they had a copy of. They used it to create a website called grandjuryreport.com (they did again in the 2024 election cycle). It then came out during the Anthony Becker trial that Jeremy Schmidt had destroyed all his evidence associated with the investigation into the leak which included his correspondence with Jude Barry and the company that created the website. All these individuals of the Gillmor side obviously leaked the report and benefited from it and yet are never charged or further investigated. The District Attorney’s office protected Mayor Gillmor and her mafia. It is clear they covered it up, and projected their guilt onto Becker. Remember no one knows who leaked it to the Gillmor-Jude Barry friendly San Francisco Chronicle and the District Attorney said they are done investigating. Really? No thorough investigation Rosen?
One really can come to the conclusion that the orchestrated efforts to save Mayor Gillmor in 2022 have proven worth because now Related got what they wanted, and now they can delay the project again in 5 years with another sad story, again grifting Santa Clarans while Mayor Gillmor accuses the 49ers of not paying their bills. With this passing, Related can do whatever they want and Lisa Gillmor can get Related to support her candidates for City Council for another 10 years. It will happen, guaranteed. In 2026 Gillmor plans to get Kathy Watanabe elected Mayor and then get wins for District 2 and 3 replacing Karen Hardy and Raj Chahal who term out. Gillmor already has Kelly Cox who replaced Anthony Becker and Kelly will probably suddenly resign in the summer of 2026 so then Mayor Gillmor can run for her seat and be part of a “Dream Team” with Kathy running for Mayor. Expect another Grand Jury Report by the 2026 elections highly critical of Suds Jain, Kevin Park, Karen Hardy and Raj Chahal.
Wow! Upon further research, to this comment, It was known that during the 2022 Election the Santa Clara Police Union headed up by Officer Jeremy Schmidt reached out to Anthony Becker for the endorsement opportunity. Following that Becker responded to them that he would take himself out of consideration because of the oath they wanted him to take. An oath to protect the police chief Pat Nikolai. At the time there was discussion in failed priority setting sessions to discuss ballot measures for Chief of Police and City Clerk going from Elected to appointed. Something Gillmor and her council majority supported in 2018. Yet now the POA was demanding an oath to protect the chief so loyal to Mayor Gillmor.
Following Anthony taking himself out of consideration in his press release the media ran a story when then POA president Jeremy Schmidt texted Anthony Becker stating along the lines , “You wanna play games, we can play games”. This is coming from a police officer talking like this to an elected official. It sounds like a threat coming from someone sworn to protect and serve. No wonder why evidence was destroyed by Schmidt, he is a bully and got caught. This was September 19th 2022 when this was reported by the Silicon Valley Voice link below. https://stage.svvoice.com/santa-clara-mayoral-candidate-anthony-becker-declines-poa-pac-endorsement/. What is also coincidence is the same time Quientin Kopp sends Becker threatening letters on his imminent charges despite no report having come out. September 2022 https://stage.svvoice.com/retired-judge-ardent-civil-grand-jury-supporter-to-santa-clara-politician-we-are-coming-at-you/. I mean the quote from Kopp, “We are coming at you”, makes you now think with the Jeremy Schmidt threat, who is “We” and all this feels very premeditated.
Double wow! As referenced in the article above on Becker denying the POA pac endorsement opportunity, Becker’s quote from his press release, “When we, as public officials, take the oath of office, we vow to serve our community without reservations or exceptions. Our city ethics and values state that councilmembers will ‘work toward consensus building and gain value from diverse opinions.’ This is the opposite of pledging in advance to ‘protect’ a specific city official or office from the democratic process.” The POA, Kopp etc all took this seriously and then got Becker to go in front of a Grand Jury under oath on their terms based on something that Gillmor and Co put together. The Grand Jury Report was created to lie about Becker and other Councilmembers then get Becker to answer questions about crimes initiated by Gillmor, Barry and the POA? Essentially they set him up to fail and to cover up their own crimes. Again this reeks of premeditated and targeted prosecution.
Makes lots of sense, it all starts with Gillmor sending a report to her personal email, telling Barry to check his email. Barry works with SF Chronicle then the POA gets a political website going then by the Monday of report release get the Police Chief to ask the DA to investigate those Councilmembers named in the report to take the heat off the fact that they all had early copies of the report and knew it was coming out. So pivot and project their guilt by using their titles as Mayor, Police Chief, Police Officer, District Attorney.
During this meeting and vote, new Councilmember Albert Gonzalez who replaced Kathy Watanabe after she termed out has nothing of use to say, he won simply by 49er money and never campaigned. He never questioned anything Related does, just another rubber stamp “yes” man” and only echoed Councilmember Karen Hardy’s comments.
Councilmember Karen Hardy sold out to Related and it’s obvious she is gonna run for Mayor. Councilmember Raj Chahal is also going to run for Mayor which ultimately means it will split the vote and give Kathy Watanabe the win. Councilmember Hardy siding with Mayor Gillmor will not get her any points, Gillmor is using her and in fact probably encouraging Karen Hardy to run for Mayor. Councilmember Hardy wake up, you are being played. Your vote has given Related company a “Sweetheart Deal”, more than the 49ers ever got.
Councilmember and Vice Mayor Kelly Cox kissed the hand that feeds her and that is Related Company and Mayor Gillmor. Makes you wonder more about the secret meeting between Kelly Cox, Mayor Gillmor and Related Company consultant Jude Barry was all about in the summer of 2024 before Kelly ran. Her vote paid back Related and those who got her on City Council. Remember they wanted to delay the vote until after the 2024 elections when either Becker, Park or Jain were gone.
So in reality, Where is the Civil Grand Jury investigation of Related, Mayor Gillmor and Jude Barry? the individuals who orchestrated the 2016, 2022, 2024 Civil Grand Jury Reports as well as getting Related Company to rob the city of Santa Clara for basically a decade. Related is has failed to deliver a new Santa Clara Firehouse for almost 10 years now and this is after tearing it down for their development. How is that caring for the Northside residents? Ultimately this is a “controlled demolition” to destroy the Santa Clara entertainment district, all because of Gillmor’s vendetta against the 49ers who she brought here in the first place. Related stalling projects and Great America closing proves no future of amenities to support our stadium & convention center with places to eat or go after games, concerts or conventions. Look at what Mayor Gillmor has done to David’s Restaurant owner, she is now the force behind appealing the decision. These are long term vendettas on taxpayers dime (David’s restaurant; 49ers; Chamber of Commerce; Anthony Becker). The Gillmor mafia has destroyed so much in Santa Clara and destroyed so many people’s lives and families.
Once Again, Mayor Gillmor was “outplayed” by Related company just like she was with the 49ers and yet, no Grand Jury Reports about her, only that she is such a great leader. How can this be? How can someone be this above the law and this insulated and powerful?
Santa Clara needs to end the Gillmor era(error) and get all the Gillmor, Jude Barry and POA supported candidates out of office if they want to save the city.
Ghost of Becker, Was this what you were referring to when Jude Barry met with Mayor Gillmor and then Candidate Kelly Cox? https://stage.svvoice.com/santa-claras-transparency-problem/. Their meeting was titled “Related Santa Clara update”. Imagine if this was the 49ers in a picture with someone from the City Council. There would be a grand jury report and investigation immediately. Councilmember Cox was simply paying back related and her explanation of not rehashing the past is the reason why Santa Clara is in the situation it is in. Simple quid pro quo. You are also right, wait till Mayor Gillmor wants Kelly out so she can run for her seat in 2026.
If anyone remembers, Mayor Gillmor is the one who said to councilmembers multiple times, “You will all regret this”, when City Council settled the 49ers lawsuits, held her responsible for her letter to Governor Newsom and when the Council terminated disgraced former City Attorney Brian Doyle and Former City Manager Santana.
The City of Santa Clara: The Center of What’s Profitable for Related or anyone who wants to grift the city.
Come one, come all whether you are a sports franchise, developer, data center or police union, Lisa Gillmor’s got you covered.
The Old Guard stands strong still. Just imagine an unhappy Gillmor, the result is investigations, legal drama, and Robert Haugh and the Chronicle destroying your name. If this didn’t pass, Queen Gillmor would have pulled out all the stops and at a following meeting demanded a reconsideration with a line of people you saw or heard from at Tuesday’s meeting. No wonder why the Mercury News back in the 1990’s called her “Looney Lisa”. “Tyrannical and sociopathic” a former Santa Clara City Attorney called her. Gillmor is surely happy about Related getting what they want. It sure does give her more time to back candidates and retain her power. Gillmor has been in power since 1992, and the 10 years she wasn’t on council, 2000-2010 she had her real estate Gillmor & Associates employees Dominic Caserta, Jamie Matthews and Kevin Moore all on the City Council, not many remember that, most of that proof was scrubbed clean. As soon as Caserta, Matthews and Moore didn’t need Lisa’s help she turned against them and look at what happened to all of them. Look what she did to former Councilmember Tim Jefferies back in the 90’s when he didn’t side with her on her vendetta against the Chamber of Commerce where she earned the above-mentioned title, “Looney Lisa”.
Over 30 years, look at all the sweetheart deals that Happy Mayor Gillmor has made with the 49ers, Related Company, Police Union, Fire Union, Former City Manager Deanna Santana, Former City Attorney Brian Doyle, the list goes on. This is the reason for deficits, no new swim center, and no money for infrastructure or even a new downtown. Anyone notice the Downtown group is always stalled. Simple Reason, Mayor Gillmor and the push for Related uptown. They simply don’t get it. Lisa does not want downtown.
Sometime in 2023 and 2024 during Council meetings Anthony Becker was trying to get staff and city manager to schedule joint study sessions with the Planning Commission on Data Centers and a proposal for a Data Center Ordinance on where and when to build them and the number allowed in the city limits.
Following that Mr. Becker got pushback from city staff and mentioned City manager didn’t like that because it could upset “big data” and they would actively campaign against any such Ordinance.
The City finally had the joint study session when Mr. Becker was gone and it was all about the benefits of Data Centers and no talk about an ordinance. It was like an advertisement for “big data” exactly what Anthony Becker told us about when we met with him to try and stop a Data center from being built.
City staff knew well in advance this is what Related corporation was gonna do and stalled every effort by Anthony Becker and members of the Planning Commission who were the most vocal about Data Centers and land use. It’s all about money.
Bunch of Gillmor’s supporters call Santa Clara a company town called Yorkville, but in reality, it’s a developer town called Rossville. Everything Mayor Gillmor and her minions accuse the 49ers of it’s the Related Company that is actually doing it.
Thank you to Council Members Chahal, Jain, and Park for attempting to put some restrictions on Related. Having another Data Center in Santa Clara simply makes us Data Center USA not Tree City USA. Related has lied to Santa Clara for the past 13 years. They promised to develop a Santana Row-like property. 13 years later, there is only a dry Gilmor Gulch. Related can make all the excuses they want, however when they closed the golf course and David’s Restaurant, it was expected the plans were solid. How much longer do we end up with a dust bowl on that property? How much longer does Related make promises they have no plans on keeping? So, Santa Clara gets another massive block of a building that provides very little tax revenue to the City. For 13 years, Related promised to develop. For 13 years, Santa Clara has received none of the tax revenue that the developed property would have brought in. Putting in a Data Center provides no housing, no community development of shopping, hotels, or restaurants and the tax revenue these would bring to the City, Shame on Mayor Gilmor and shame on Related for very simply lying to the citizens about what you “planned” to do with the property. Your actions clearly demonstrate you had no intention of following through with your promises.