Commissioners preview 8‑story, 265‑unit Moffett Park project at Bordeaux Drive; staff and applicant seek feedback on waivers and design

Sunnyvale planning staff and the project team presented a study session on March 9 for an 8‑story residential proposal at 1215 Bordeaux Drive in the Moffett Park specific plan area.

Staff presentation: Wendy Lau, the project planner, told commissioners the project would remove an existing one‑story office built in 1973 and replace it with an eight‑story podium building on roughly 1.6–1.95 acres. Staff described the site context (bounded by Bordeaux Drive and 5th Avenue), the project’s alignment with the Moffett Park specific plan, internal layouts (ground‑floor amenity and mechanical parking accessed from 5th Avenue), and the request for several development waivers including a 70‑foot neighborhood park width in lieu of the plan’s 80‑foot standard, no green roof, reduced setbacks, loading deviations, fewer façade breaks and no exterior residential storage. Staff noted the proposal is under review by city biologists to verify consistency with the specific plan’s habitat and park guidance.

Applicant presentation and project facts: Edward Kim of KTGY (project architect) said the building would total roughly 297,000 square feet with 265 residential units and include 40 deed‑restricted below‑market units, consistent with the city’s 15% inclusionary requirement; the applicant described those 40 units as 26 low‑income and 14 very‑low‑income and said they would be integrated across the building. The design includes podium courtyards, upper‑level residences, amenity spaces, bird‑safe glazing, and a mechanical stacking parking system intended to reduce garage footprint while accommodating vehicle sizes from sedans to SUVs. The applicant emphasized sustainability measures (electrification, solar PV, EV infrastructure) and described a publicly accessible, privately maintained 0.33‑acre park edge as part of the longer Bordeaux Neighborhood Park vision.

Commissioner questions and public comment: Commissioners probed the project’s relationship to the planned Bordeaux Neighborhood Park, whether the applicant would get park‑dedication credits for constructing on‑site park improvements, parking ratios under the specific plan (0.75 spaces per unit at ultimate buildout), the mechanical parking system operations and EV charging limits, potential for ground‑floor commercial uses, and the applicant’s outreach (about five participants at a virtual meeting). Public comment included a field representative for the Carpenters Union urging local hiring and prevailing wages during construction, and residents raising concerns about synthetic turf for a proposed dog park and school access for future resident children.

Next steps: Staff said the proposal is still under review and may evolve before it reaches a public hearing; commissioners requested additional detail (parking analysis, outreach summaries, and more complete documentation of waiver justification) to be included with the public‑hearing packet.