After years of revisions, a new senior living community in Los Gatos received the green light from the town council on Tuesday.
Located at the intersection of South Santa Cruz Avenue and Wood Road, the site was originally the location of a senior living facility called Los Gatos Meadows that closed in 2019 due to safety concerns. In 2020 developers began planning a new facility on the site. The council approved the project’s draft environmental impact report at its Feb. 4 meeting.
Planning commissioners and town council members had previously taken issue with some of the project’s features, including its building height and concentration of luxury units, but the project received planning commission approval in November. The version of the project that the council finally greenlit will be a six-story development with two levels of parking, 187 regular independent care units and 24 supportive care units, all over about 11 acres of land.
Construction on the project is on track to begin in early 2027, and the facility will open by late 2029, according to the nonprofit property owner Front Porch.
“We so appreciate that the town council saw what we’ve known – that Los Gatos Meadows was and will be again an integral asset for the people and town of Los Gatos,” Front Porch CEO Sean Kelly said in a press release.
Council members commended the nonprofit for its efforts to engage with the community throughout the planning process. They also lauded its offering 11 homes in the El Sombroso Oaks retirement community, also in Los Gatos, to the county’s housing voucher program for older adults. Supporting affordable housing is not a requirement for the developer in this situation.
“I must say this particular applicant, it’s been stellar,” council member Mary Badame said after the vote. “You bent over backwards to satisfy the community, make a project that works, it was topnotch. So thank you for working so hard, and I’m just so happy that you got the unanimous support tonight from all of us.”
The item was approved in a 4-0 vote, with council member Maria Ristow recusing herself because of the proximity of her home to the project site.
The project comes as the town is in the midst of working to improve the lives of older adults in Los Gatos. People age 65 and up make up 20.1% of the town’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 population estimates. The Los Gatos Foundation for Older Adults to Thrive has been spearheading an effort to build a new multi-generational community center in town.
Several community members turned out to speak in support of the project at the town council meeting.
“We need housing for all demographics, people of all economic means,” said resident and foundation president Tom Picraux. “For seniors, this serves very well in the sense that it allows a place for people to downsize, making their home available to other people for purchase.”