"This is a project that doesn't show up overnight. In my experience, this could take upward of a decade."
A San Jose planning commissioner said that about the El Paseo de Saratoga redevelopment back when it still called for four towers and nearly a thousand new homes. He was right, and the years since have proven something else too: not only does a project like this take a decade, the plan you're looking at today is rarely the plan that gets built.
If you've toured a resale home near Westgate West or the El Paseo shopping center lately, you've probably seen the phrase in the listing description: walking distance to the future Whole Foods, minutes from the upcoming Costco. Those lines are technically true. What they don't tell you is that the corner they're pointing to has been "upcoming" for the better part of six years, and every time the plan has come back for a new round of approvals, it has come back smaller.
Two Blocks, One Long Story
Saratoga Avenue and Lawrence Expressway is a single intersection carrying two of the biggest development stories in West San Jose right now. On one corner, Sand Hill Property Company is turning the old El Paseo de Saratoga shopping center into a mixed-use village with apartments, a Whole Foods, and a Sunrise Senior Living care facility. A few blocks down Prospect Road, Costco has spent years trying to replace a stretch of half-empty retail at the Westgate West Shopping Center with a 165,000-square-foot warehouse.
Neither project is speculative anymore. El Paseo cleared demolition and site excavation last year, and by this spring the first towers and retail boxes had started climbing above the fence line along Saratoga Avenue, according to reporting on the site's move into vertical construction. Costco cleared its last major legal obstacle in January 2026, when a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge threw out a lawsuit brought by a resident group called West Valley Citizens for Responsible Development.
So both projects are real. The question for a buyer isn't whether they're happening. It's what "happening" actually means for a timeline, and what the finished product will look like compared to what was promised along the way.
The Plan That Kept Getting Smaller
El Paseo's own history is the clearest evidence of how much these projects change shape before a single unit is occupied. When the city first approved the redevelopment in 2022, the plan called for four towers and up to 994 residences, with 150 of them designated affordable. By January 2024, the developer had already come back with a scaled-down version, cutting the total to 867 units and eliminating housing above the planned Whole Foods after construction lenders balked at the design. By November 2024, the plan shrank again to 772 units, this time trading residential density in one building for a seven-story senior care facility. When the city council finalized the current version in December 2024, the affordable housing count had fallen from the original 150 units to just 39.
That's not a project that grew into something better. It's a project that got smaller three separate times to stay financeable, and the piece that shrank the most each round was the part meant to serve the widest range of incomes.
Here's how the two projects compare on paper, based on public filings and reporting through this spring:
| Milestone | El Paseo de Saratoga | Costco Westgate West |
|---|---|---|
| Application filed | Predates 2022 council approval | November 2021 |
| Original approval | June 21, 2022 (994 units, 150 affordable) | N/A |
| Amended approval | Dec. 10, 2024 (772 units, 39 affordable) | Approved by council Oct. 22, 2024 |
| Legal challenge | None reported | Lawsuit filed by West Valley Citizens for Responsible Development |
| Legal outcome | N/A | Dismissed by Judge Charles Adams, Jan. 5, 2026 |
| Unit/size count | Down from 994 to 772 units across the build's history | Unchanged at roughly 165,000 square feet |
| Affordable housing | Cut from 150 units to 39 | Not applicable (commercial project) |
| Construction status as of spring 2026 | Vertical construction underway | Still pursuing building permits |
| Expected build time | About four years from groundbreaking | About 21 months once construction starts |
Costco's Own Long Runway
Costco's path has been just as slow, even without a shrinking design. The company filed its application in November 2021, spent three years working through community meetings and an environmental impact report, and finally won council approval in October 2024, with two council members recusing themselves over financial conflicts. Two months later, West Valley Citizens for Responsible Development sued, arguing the city's review understated the traffic and noise impact on the neighborhood around Prospect High School.
The lawsuit didn't stop the project, but it did stop the clock. As of the January 2026 ruling, a spokesperson for San Jose's planning department confirmed Costco was still working through the building permit process, meaning the 21-month construction estimate hadn't even started running yet. The city's approved conditions do give a sense of what construction will eventually look like on the ground: extended Saturday work hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and up to five 24-hour concrete pours, changes the developer negotiated in exchange for closing the Graves Avenue driveway near the neighborhood's dog park to discourage cut-through traffic.
San Jose has been building toward this kind of retail expansion for a while. A recent fact-check found that as of January 2026, the city was tied with two others for the most Costco warehouses in the country, and the Westgate West store would push San Jose ahead of both San Diego and Phoenix once it opens.
What This Means If You're Comparing Homes Near the Corridor
None of this means avoid the neighborhood. It means treat "near the future Whole Foods" and "walking distance to the new Costco" as a call option, not a closing gift. The option might pay off in four years, in the case of El Paseo's finished retail and public plazas. It might pay off on a slower and less certain timeline in Costco's case, where permits are still pending and no groundbreaking date has been announced. Either way, you're buying proximity to construction now and a promise later, and the promise has already changed shape more than once.
Home values in West San Jose haven't moved in a way that suggests the market is pricing in a big speculative premium yet. The neighborhood's average home value sat modestly above two million dollars as of mid-2026, up less than one percent over the prior year, a pace that looks more like a market absorbing uncertainty than one betting heavily on a finished amenity.
If you're weighing a home near this corridor against a comparable one elsewhere in West San Jose, a few questions are worth asking before you let proximity move the price:
- Has the seller's agent described nearby proximity as current or future? "Steps from Whole Foods" only means something once Whole Foods has a certificate of occupancy.
- What is the actual construction status today, not the status when the listing photos were taken? El Paseo's timeline and Costco's permit status can both be checked against the city's own project pages before you write an offer.
- What are the approved construction hours and truck routes for whichever project is closer? Costco's extended Saturday hours and concrete pour schedule are public record, and they'll affect weekend mornings for anyone on the surrounding blocks during the build.
- Has the unit count or affordable housing share changed since the listing agent's marketing materials were written? El Paseo alone has been revised three times since 2022.
- Is the home's price already reflecting a completed amenity, or an amenity that's still four years and one more possible revision away?
That last question is the one that matters most in a negotiation. A home priced as if the Whole Foods and the new towers are already open is a home you're overpaying for today on a promise that has shrunk every single time it's come up for a vote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Costco definitely happening now that the lawsuit is over? The legal path is clear, but as of the January 2026 ruling, Costco was still working through building permits with no announced groundbreaking date. The city's own estimate is 21 months of construction once that starts, not 21 months from today.
How tall will the buildings at El Paseo actually be? The current approved plan calls for a 12-story building with 398 units, a 10-story building with 374 units, and a separate 7-story senior care facility across Saratoga Avenue. All of those numbers have changed at least once before, so treat them as the current plan rather than the final word.
Does construction near these two sites hurt resale value in the meantime? It's too early to say with confidence, since West San Jose's overall home values have moved only modestly over the past year. What's clear is that any home marketed on proximity to an unfinished project is being priced on a forecast, and forecasts for this particular corner have a documented history of changing.
If you're weighing a West San Jose home against the promise of what's still being built around it, that's exactly the kind of question I help clients work through before they write an offer. As a former real estate attorney, I read the entitlement history the way I'd read a contract, and I'll walk you through what's actually locked in versus what's still subject to change.
Michal Amodai can help you weigh a listing's location story against its documented timeline. Get Your Free Home Valuation and let's talk through what's really finished, what's still four years out, and what that means for your offer.
