Trammell Crow Company has submitted new plans to the City of Morgan Hill for a portion of its industrial property located off Cochrane Road, according to city staff.
The developer’s new plans include about 501,314 square feet of flexible industrial/commercial space in five separate buildings on the 29-acre tree farm site on Highway 101, just south of Cochrane Road, reads an email from city staff. The buildings will be designated for uses including advanced manufacturing, warehouse, supporting office and similar industrial and commercial uses.
The property is currently configured into two lots, but will be reconfigured into four legal lots. Current zoning is Light Industrial and the General Plan designation is Commercial/Industrial, according to city staff.
The proposed project, known as “Redwood Tech at 101,” will require a tentative parcel map and design permit—which will be heard along with the application request at an upcoming planning commission meeting.
If approved, each of the five proposed buildings will be divisible for up to three tenants, and are designed with a maximum height of 50 feet.
The four proposed lot and building sizes are: Lot A is 6.87 acres with a 138,698 square-foot concrete tilt-up building; Lot B is 4.15 acres with a 92,841 square-foot concrete tilt-up building; Lot C is 9.02 acres with 122,101 square-foot concrete tilt-up building; Lot D is 9.16 acres with two concrete tilt-up buildings of 74,006 square-foot and 73,668 square-foot.
Portions of the site will be used for parking and landscaping/stormwater treatment. The proposal includes a 30 to 40 foot “colonnade” of matured redwood trees, city staff said.
City staff noted that no General Plan or zoning changes are required for the proposal, unlike the last time Trammell Crow proposed a development on the property. The project currently proposed would only occupy the southern half of the 60-acre parcel bound by De Paul Drive, Cochrane Road, U.S. 101 and Half Road—all of which is owned by Trammell Crow.
In 2019, Trammell Crow proposed the “Morgan Hill Technology Center” to occupy the entire 60-acre property. That project called for six industrial/commercial buildings ranging in size from about 80,000 to 220,000 square feet. The plans presented a mix of industrial, residential and commercial uses for the site; the industrial buildings included a total of 124 loading dock doors.
However, Trammell Crow Company withdrew those plans in September 2020 in response to feedback from residents who called for a smaller-scale project on the site.
Since Trammell Crow purchased the DePaul property, the MHTC proposal has drawn ongoing public outcry from residents who are concerned about the project’s impacts on Morgan Hill.
In fact, the MHTC proposal was the impetus for the citizen-created Morgan Hill Responsible Growth Initiative, which seeks to prohibit large-scale fulfillment centers in the city limits.
