Cherry Pickers to Illustrate Height of Future Los Gatos Netflix Campus

Following residents' concerns that it was unclear just how tall the future Netflix location will be at Albright Way and Winchester Boulevard, the project's applicant has placed so-called "cherry pickers," or mechanical lifts to illustrate the height of the proposed four buildings.

Los Gatos Business Park, LLC placed the mechanical lifts at 90-160 Albright Way and 14600 Winchester Blvd. on March 27 and will continue to display them until the Los Gatos Planning Commission hearing to discuss the project tentatively scheduled for April 24.

The height demonstration will be up seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and includes the cranes with mesh to help the public visualize the project. Each building will be four stories high, or 65 feet.

The Albright Way property is located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Winchester Boulevard and Highway 85.

The installation of the cherry pickers comes more than a month after Charter Oaks resident Anne Robinson spoke before the body to express concerns about the inability of neighbors to evaluate the project's impact.

Robinson specifically wanted story poles or cherry pickers installed on the east side of what she calls building four, at the southeast corner of building three, which borders the Charter Oaks community and on the south side of the parking structure where it also borders the Charter Oaks community.

The project proposes to build up to 550,000 square feet of office/research and development space and one parking garage where currently 10 buildings are located that would be demolished.

Developer John Shenk said in December Netflix had signed a 10-year lease for the project's first building to accommodate the giant Internet streaming company's growth needs. 

Netflix, which has been headquartered in Los Gatos since March 1999, is hoping to expand from its current campus at 100 Winchester Circle, into the future development.

The project's draft environmental impact report was available for public review until March 14.

Just weeks before the legal challenge was filed, a divided Council voted 3-2 in favor of the development.