By Nate Berg, Fast Company, February 3, 2021
“Like many car dealerships around the country, Toyota Sunnyvale, a seller of preowned Toyota models, is almost entirely an asphalt parking lot.
“[The dealership owner] is now in the process of redeveloping the dealership into housing, a much-needed resource in the heart of the bustling tech industry. But the dealership isn’t going anywhere. Instead, the two uses are being combined, with the car dealership housed at ground level and an 88-unit apartment building slated to sit above it.
“John Thatch, Dahlin Group Architecture Planning’s director of design, says this is one of several car dealership conversion projects the firm is working on, and that as cities densify, more dealerships and other types of retail will likely begin to think about similar conversions.
“‘I think it’s an interesting concept to really create housing, another way to do mixed-use, another way to bring people and energy to an area. Around the world there are examples of this, but it’s sort of hitting the suburbs that are starting to densify.’ Thatch said.”
Read the full article here. (~3 min.)