Santana Row Expands with New Retail Plaza, Parking Garage

A new shopping plaza and parking structure opened last week at Santana Row, expanding the outdoor retail strip for the first time in a long time.

Coined 700 Santana Row by designers, the new structures at the high-end outdoor shopping center include 1,300 new parking spaces and a 21,00- square-foot plaza located at the west end of the shopping center.

“The plaza finishes the row,” said Rayna Langley of Federal Realty, the real estate firm that owns Santana Row. “It feels like it’s complete.”

The new project includes 50 electric-vehicle (EV) parking spaces with chargers, which more than doubles the shopping center’s total EV spaces. Sixty-one of those spots are Tesla superchargers in the Winchester Boulevard garage near the car company’s showroom. A large old oak tree had to be transferred from the site during construction but was re-planted among the new trees that line 700 Santana Row.

“It should fully revitalize this summer,” Federal Realty’s Ron Heckmann said of the tree.

The Santana Row expansion marks the first addition in several years for the shopping center. The new building was designed with office, residential and commercial space. The 319,000-square-foot anchor of the project has seven levels, a glass front, private terraces and is LEED certified with cutting-edge technology.

“It’s a ‘smart’ project,” Langley said. “We have smart parking and features to make sure you don’t lose your car.” Basically, that means digital indicators positioned over parking spots flash green or red depending on whether the space is taken or not.

Federal Realty is also working on a new development not too far from the recently unveiled expansion. Called Santana Row West, the project will feature office space within walking distance of the retail hub’s main strip.

“The world-class urban plaza also opening today is an entirely new experience-space we think people will really enjoy,” Jan Sweetnam, senior vice president at Federal Realty, said in a press release.

Santana Row now boasts 50 shops, 30 restaurants, nine personal service businesses, 615 rental apartments and 219 condominiums. During the day, the high-end shopping center swells to a population of over 250,000, according to Federal Realty.

“We finally have a complex to complete the end of the road at Santana Row,”Langley said. “It’s a capstone to anchor this side of the row, and we’ll see it utilized quite a bit.”

7 Comments

  1. “During the day, the high-end shopping center swells to a population of over 250,000, according to Federal Realty.”

    Really? During the day, there are a quarter million people on site? I’m not buying it. Maybe during peak times that many people swing through there, but all at the same time? Maybe not.

    These guys, Federal Realty, don’t seem to be as “big-box” and strip mall -loving as some of the other REIT companies like, say, Weingarten. But I would bet they are as ruthless to their tenants as WRI is.

  2. Lots of pretentious people milling about, feeling important and taking selfies. Love when the Lambos from the San Carlos used lots are parked at Hotel Valencia. I feel like im in Beverly Hills NOT

  3. How much of the new residential will be affordable below market housing? It would be environmentally beneficial for those that work there be able walk to work and not need to commute in old gas cars.

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