Historic Redwood trees and shiny-new buildings are now towering over downtown Sunnyvale, marking the near-completion of a decades-long city plan to revitalize the area.
City officials, local real estate leaders and residents gathered at Redwood Square Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the reopening of the renovated one-acre public park, which includes several trees, a grassy patch and rectangular waterfall.
The square is part of the Cityline block, a 36-acre site bounded by South Mathilda and Sunnyvale Avenues and Washington and Iowa Avenues that includes The Martin, which has 479-luxury apartment units housed in a 12-story high building and two seven-story office spaces. Both complexes were completed earlier this year. Cityline is an alliance of real estate firms Hunter Partners of Cupertino and Sares Regis Group of Northern California of San Mateo.
The city plans to revitalize the 150-acre downtown area, including Historic Murphy Avenue, Downtown Core, Plaza Del Sol and Redwood Square, date back to 2003.
The square, like most of the Cityline, replaces a two-story indoor mall that stood in the downtown for 30 years. The mall was demolished and a new one had been slated for construction, until the 2008 recession caused a standstill. An incomplete steel skeleton sat exposed at the square for years, until the city demolished the structure in 2016 to make way for new developments. The city partnered with the two firm to work on the Cityline projects.
“That was our goal, to complete a downtown and build something that could be a landmark and second to no other location in Silicon Valley,” said Dave Hopkins, co-president of Sares Regis Group of Northern California.
In 2020, amid a growing regional demand for more residential and commercial spaces, the council updated the plan to include more mixed-use developments in hopes of creating more opportunities for higher-density housing, pedestrian and bike-friendly areas and convenient retail, service and entertainment spaces close by local and regional transit.
Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein recalled working the city working in 2003 to replace the mall with a structure that would symbolize a new downtown. The end result was better than what the city could have imagined, he said.
“Today we finally see that vision finally realized, and better than what we envisioned,” he said, standing in the completed square Wednesday. “The grand opening of Redwood Square is not just another milestone, it’s a moment of tremendous pride and accomplishment for everyone involved.”
The completed block joins adjacent downtown renovations, including Target, AMC Theaters and Whole Foods, four parking garages, apartment complexes Flats and The Flats West and various other grocery, entertainment and shops. But Cityline isn’t finished yet. In the upcoming years residents can expect to see a six-story office space with ground floor retail and underground parking along South Mathilda Avenue.
Joshua Rupert, director of development for Hunter Partners, said the city and firms are looking forward to finalizing the future projects.
“This is something that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a developer like myself,” he said Wednesday. “I guarantee this will not happen again, to have the opportunity to redevelop the downtown, and give it something that we all can be proud of.”