The Los Gatos Town Council voted unanimously Monday night to allow the owners of The Terraces of Los Gatos senior-care facility to add a 23,000-square-foot, two-story building that will have 26 senior units—10 assisted-living and 16 memory care dwellings specifically built for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
The facility, located at 800 Blossom Hill Rd., is owned by American Baptist Homes of the West. It currently includes 18 buildings that house 175 independent-living units, 59 skilled-nursing units and 35 assisted-living units. Twenty nine of the independent-living units are below market price units, according to a staff report.
The building, which will be erected at the southwest corner of The Terraces, will be 35 feet tall, the same height of the adjacent facility and is not expected to generate traffic since its residents won't drive, the report added.
The Terraces will lose 42 parking spaces due to the expansion, however, the neighboring Presbyterian Church of Los Gatos has agreed to share 20 of its parking spaces with the facility.
Russell Mauk, vice president of design, construction and redevelopment for ABHOW, said The Terraces' expansion is necessary to continue to serve the growing number of seniors with dementia in Los Gatos.
The council also voted unanimously to exclude the requirement for local developers to use 8,500 square feet of property located at 15400 Los Gatos Blvd. for restaurant or retail use.
Builders SHP Newark LLC. want to use the site most recently occupied by Swanson Ford and Hertz Rental Car and McHugh Lincoln Mercury to build medical offices on the two-acre site.
The Los Gatos Planning Commission denied the developer's request for the exemption on the project that calls for a 40,000-square-foot, two-story building at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Gateway Drive, the site of the empty Swanson Ford dealership.
In other news, the council issued commendations to longtime community volunteers Marianne Hamilton and Valerie Hopkins for their eight years of service as the lead coordinators for the Los Gatos Music and Arts' Music in the Park summer concert series.
The council also received a $100,000 check from the Los Gatos United Soccer League for the proposed Creekside Sports Park to be built at 930 University Ave.
