KB Home buys 3.5 acres in Milpitas for new townhome project

See correction at end of article.

KB Home has joined the latest housing rush to Milpitas.

The national homebuilder in recent days acquired a fully entitled 3.5-acre development site across from the Great Mall where it will construct 94 townhomes.

KB did not release the purchase price, but county records indicate the Valley’s largest homebuilder paid about $13.7 million for the parcel, which equates to about $145,700 per buildable unit. The seller was an affiliate of Citation Homes.

KB Home spokesman Craig LeMessurier told me that KB hoped to start delivering the first units by the end of 2014. The three-story floor plans will range from 1,645 to 1,850 square feet.

“We’ve had success in the past in Milpitas, and this is another great opportunity for KB Home to enter that market,” He said. “We’re happy to be offering new townhomes in the coming year. It’s a fantastic, commuter-friendly area with the BART station, Great Mall, and very close to Silicon Valley’s jobs centers.”

KB Home is not alone. Milpitas has been among the most active Silicon Valley cities for homebuilding in the past couple years, particularly around the planned BART station at the Great Mall. The city several years ago implemented a new planning district that encouraged high-density housing near the site. So far, 3,700 new housing units have been approved. The plan allows for some 7,000 units in the area. (Click here, here, here and here for more on the Milpitas storyline.)

KB does not currently have any projects under construction in Milpitas. Its previous project there was in 2007, with Terra Serena, a 700-unit project near the San Jose Flea Market. But KB has been hankering to get into the booming Milpitas housing market for a while: It applied to the city to build Preston Village, which would have included 213 units, off Bothelo Lane, but the project was denied.

Correction
Corrects headline and first paragraph to indicate correct size of parcel.

Nathan Donato-Weinstein
Real Estate Reporter-
Silicon Valley Business Journal