Santa Clara is teeing up a big housing play at Pruneridge Golf Club, where a Sacramento developer wants to tuck 316 apartments into a corner of the nine-hole course as Silicon Valley rents keep climbing. The project would put a five-story residential building around a parking structure on about 3.66 acres of the 31-acre property, add a new public park, and keep most of the golf operation in place. The application is working its way through environmental review and still needs multiple land-use approvals before any shovels hit the ground.
What’s being proposed
According to the project's Notice of Preparation on the state CEQA portal, the plan would split the site into three pieces: a 3.66-acre residential parcel, a 1.77-acre public park to be dedicated to the city, and the remaining golf course lands. The filing outlines a five-story building with up to 316 units wrapped around a seven-story parking garage, with 414 vehicle stalls and 332 bicycle parking spaces. Roughly 19.1 acres of the course would be reconfigured, while a 6.4-acre section that includes the driving range, clubhouse, and surface parking would stay as is, according to CEQAnet.
Developer and timeline
Demmon Partners - the Sacramento family firm that has owned Pruneridge since the 1970s - is branding the project “The Greens at Pruneridge” and pitching it as a way to modernize the course while adding badly needed homes. The developer's project site lists 316 units and pegs an estimated delivery in 2028, assuming the city signs off on entitlements and permits, according to The Greens at Pruneridge. Sean Morley, who is advising on entitlements, told San José Spotlight that early community feedback has been generally positive and that there is no better time than the present to create new homes.
Market pressures behind the move
So why carve up a golf course at all? In short, because open land in Silicon Valley is scarce and expensive, and rents keep ticking up. Apartment List's June 2026 report puts Santa Clara's median rent at about $3,378 - nearly 6% higher than a year earlier, according to Apartment List. The Pruneridge application is moving forward in what the Silicon Valley Business Journal has described as a market starved for large, developable sites, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Local trade-offs and concerns
Neighbors and regulars at the course are split on the trade-offs. Some like the idea of more housing near major streets and transit, while others are less thrilled about the extra cars and people that would come with 316 new units. Traffic and pedestrian safety on Saratoga and Pruneridge avenues are top worries. San José Spotlight noted one frequent player who said safety is his main concern. At the same time, Santa Clara is on the hook to add roughly 11,632 homes by 2031, which helps explain why projects that keep some open space while layering in housing are on the table.
Next steps
The Notice of Preparation kicked off the CEQA review last spring, and the city now has to prepare a draft environmental impact report, take public comments, and study effects on traffic, air quality, cultural resources and more before it can change any land-use designations or grant approvals, according to the CEQA filing on CEQAnet. If the project wins its entitlements, the developer has floated 2028 as the target for delivering the new homes, a timeline that still depends on how the environmental review, permitting, and any required project tweaks play out.
