Cambrian Park Plaza Is on a Clock Now, and the Shops Come Last

"This was the downtown," Bob Burres told KQED last April as he walked a reporter past the covered walkways at Union and Camden. "There is no 'main street' in the Cambrian Park area. This was it."

For about seventy years, that downtown has been Cambrian Park Plaza. In its prime it had a grocery store, a hardware store, clothing shops, a post office, a bowling alley, and doctors' and dentists' offices, all within walking distance of the homes around it. In September, San José approved a change that does two things. It gives the plaza in its current form an expected end date, and it moves the part of the redevelopment most tied to that "downtown" idea to the end of the line.

What the September 30 hearing changed

The city council approved the Cambrian Park Signature Project in 2022. Four years later, nothing had been built. One rule in the original permit stood in the way. The commercial portion had to be built before the housing, or at the same time.

On September 30, 2026, San José's Planning Director hearing agenda included an amendment to the permit for the 18.13-acre site at 14200 and 14420 Union Avenue. The amendment sets up a master phasing plan and asks for an incentive that removes the commercial-first requirement. Staff recommended approval. The amendment does not change land uses, the number of housing units, or the total commercial square footage. On October 2, The Real Deal, citing the Silicon Valley Business Journal, reported that the city had approved Kimco Realty's request to build the housing first.

Here is the order those reports describe:

That middle row holds the shops and restaurants. They sit under the apartment building, and that building comes after the houses.

Why the order flipped

The tool here is the state density bonus. It gives developers concessions in exchange for affordable housing. According to The Real Deal, Kimco showed the city that building the housing first would lower the cost of providing that affordable housing. The report also says the new sequence cuts the company's upfront investment by $35 million. The hearing item covers 28 units restricted to moderate-income households and 22 units restricted to very low-income households. Mark Rickards, Kimco's development director, said the revised plan lets the project pencil out.

The financing problem was already on the record. Kelly Snider, a San José State professor and development consultant, told KQED in April that the plan on the city's website was "not economically feasible to build." She described "a lot going on in a very small parcel," with no single developer that specializes in every use the plan combined. For comparison, the 2022 proposal called for 428 homes and apartments in four buildings of five and six stories, a 229-room hotel, a 110-bed senior complex, and 56,000 square feet of retail. In the October reporting, the retail figure attached to the later apartment phase is about 51,000 square feet.

The concern neighbors put on record

Residents have been part of this from the start. Peter Clarke, a member of the Friends of Cambrian Park group, told KQED that when the plaza sold to a developer after the Schaeffer family's ownership ended in 2015, "we were in favor." Over years of planning meetings, the group pushed back on proposals that looked like another strip mall. Clarke said the community wanted a place where people would come to linger, with sit-down dining and no more fast food. Neighbors pointed to The Pruneyard in Campbell and downtown Los Gatos as models.

In April, before the phasing request had been decided, Burres and Clarke told KQED they were "waiting nervously." They noted that the single-family homes and townhouses are the easiest part of the plan for a developer to recoup. Clarke put it this way:

"Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land, it's never going to be commercial again."

The September approval follows the sequence those residents were watching for. The approved plan still includes the shops, restaurants, and hotel, because the amendment left commercial square footage unchanged. Whether the commercial phases get built, and when, now depends on later phases that have no reported dates.

Who's in the storefronts until then

The plaza KQED visited in April had a faded feel, with many empty storefronts. The businesses that remained, including a boxing gym, a pet adoption agency, and a store for kids' baseball gear, were on short-term leases. "You can't put a lot of investment into a retail space for a six month lease," Burres said. The former Cambrian post office space and a Mexican restaurant that had closed came up as they walked.

Short leases have also brought some newcomers. These businesses show current activity at the plaza:

• Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe, 14420 Union Avenue. The rescue offers 50-minute kitten visits and posted sessions for the weekend of October 3 and 4.
• Dreamland Boxing, 14396 Union Avenue. The gym announced its new Cambrian Park Plaza location starting January 5, 2026, and a women-only class starting February 3.
• Claudio França Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, 14800 Camden Avenue. The academy's own site lists classes and a free first class.
• Dollar Tree, 14406 Union Avenue. The store's locator lists hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Kimco's property map lists more tenants, among them Heartbeat Café, El Bazar Azteca, Postal Wings Plus, and Zum-E-Hop Dance Studio. The map is undated, and it doesn't match the vacancies KQED described. Calling ahead before a visit makes sense.

The plaza still hosts community events. The City of San José's calendar listed the fifth Music in the Valley festival there on May 2, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with live music, food trucks, vendors, a resource fair, and family activities.

The carousel sign at the corner has a disputed history. KQED's caption says it was built in 1953 with the center and received historic status in 2016. A May 2016 consultant evaluation, published by the city as part of the project's environmental review, describes a carousel pylon from around 1959 that no longer stands. It concludes that the sign there now likely dates to the 1990s and does not meet historic resource criteria. San José Spotlight reported in 2021 that the carousel sign would remain under the redevelopment. That article did not say whether the sign would stay in place or be moved.

The calendar from here

1. September 30, 2026. The Planning Director hearing took up the phasing amendment, and October reporting says the city approved it.
2. Through 2027. No demolition or construction start had been reported as of early October 2026, so the current tenants keep operating.
3. 2028. Demolition and the first housing construction are expected to begin. 2028 is also when the original permit expires. Kimco asked to extend it by up to four years as part of the request. The October reports do not say whether the extension was granted.
4. Later, undated. The 305-unit apartment building with its shops and restaurants, then the 229-room hotel.

Timelines for this site have moved before. In 2021, San José Spotlight reported a forecast that the project would be finished in 2026, which is this year. The city's project page still shows a comment letter due in March 2026 and has not been updated with the September decision. For now, the dates that matter are the kitten sessions posted for this weekend and an expected demolition start in 2028.

If you own a home near Union and Camden, a project that adds 48 houses, 25 townhomes, and 27 ADUs before any new shops open could affect how buyers see your block over the next few years. DeTar Team follows Cambrian projects like this one hearing by hearing and can explain what the new phase order could mean for your property. Get your instant home valuation, and we'll follow up with a local read on the timeline.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.