{"id":157047,"date":"2026-01-30T21:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157047\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T21:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:34:15","slug":"milestones-go-up-not-out-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157047\/","title":{"rendered":"Milestones \u2013 Go Up Not Out – Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some years, the City of\u00a0Santa Clara has been kicking around the idea of relocating City Hall. Some have proposed moving it back to a redeveloped downtown. The latest idea is to move it to the Northside of the city \u2014 away from central Santa Clara \u2014 and selling the valuable parcels on Civic Center Drive to developers eager to build new projects.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Folks, we\u2019ve been down this road.<\/p>\n

We heard this same story when the city\u2019s historic city hall was demolished along with the rest of downtown in 1960. City Hall was then rebuilt at its present location<\/a>. But despite decades of development, redevelopment and modernizing plans; and charts, graphs, blueprints and spending on consultants, Santa Clara\u2019s downtown has \u2026 well \u2026 remained pretty much the same since the 1990s. Franklin Mall was built on the empty lot.<\/p>\n

SPONSORED<\/p>\n

\"BrainShare\"BrainShare<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, a lot has happened in our city over that time. The Northside has exploded, prospered and become highly developed. There was a notion a decade ago to create a new urban hub on the Northside across from Levi\u2019s Stadium. However, all that has sprung up there so far is weeds.<\/p>\n

In this century, Santa Clara has filled in and filled up and has little property available for further expansion, limiting the options to build, rebuild or relocate City Hall.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are good reasons for City Hall staying put. The location is central and accessible. The city owns the land, the buildings and facilities. While these are half a century old, the land is prime for a rebuild.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, just a thought: Could we continue to use the current sprawling city hall while building new, multistory buildings on the site and moving city departments in stages? \u00a0This is what Sunnyvale did, and built a civic center in several phases that is a showpiece, while remaining at the center of that city.<\/p>\n

By building up instead of moving out, Santa Clara preserves some of the most valuable real estate in the city. In addition to executive offices, new multistory buildings would provide space for parking, a state-of-the-art permit center, business offices and a new comfortable and inviting Council Chambers.<\/p>\n

Giving up such a prime piece of property for redevelopment may look attractive in the short run. But once it\u2019s sold to developers, we can never get it back.<\/p>\n

Remember, much of the old downtown was sold off based on the same kind of thinking, and a few years ago, Santa Clara paid one of the owners of downtown property $1 million to simply consider returning a right-of-way to the city. Once City Hall is sold off to developers, it would never be the center of Santa Clara again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previous Milestones:
Milestones \u2013 Super Bowl Insights\u00a0\u2013 Opinion<\/a>
Milestones \u2013 With Gratitude \u2013 Opinion<\/a>
Milestones \u2013 The Other Santa Clara Way \u2013 Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

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