Milpitas to add new park near Great Mall

Milpitas is looking to build a new park near the Great Mall as part of the city’s ongoing plans to turn industrials sites into thriving residential spaces.

The four-acre park site, temporarily named Tango Park, will be split into two adjacent outdoor areas near 1831 Tarob Court and 1700 Sango Court, about a five minute drive from the mall. The first park site will be located next to Sango Apartments, a 102-unit affordable housing complex that opened in August. The second will be built across from Sango and expand on the existing Augustus Rathbone Park, a 0.75-acre area situated between Expedition Lane and Jubilee Drive.

City staff are currently meeting with residents to gather feedback for the park’s design, a process expected to take approximately 18 to 24 months to complete. The final design should be finalized by spring or summer of next year. Construction will start sometime in 2027, according to City Engineer Michael Silveira

“Right now we’re still in that fact finding mode,” Silveria said. “The community input and feedback really dictations what type of improvements they are looking for or activities they want to see at the park.”

The first community input meeting in September gathered more than 100 responses from residents, according to Lyhak Eam, a city engineer who works on the project. “So far the main feature that community members want are open space playgrounds and public restrooms,” he said.

The next in-person community input meeting is scheduled to take place Jan. 15, 2025 at Mabel Mattos Elementary School in Milpitas.

Eam said it is too early to tell how much the park’s construction will cost. However, Milpitas is prepared to set aside $4,150,000 to fund the park’s design and construction as part of city plans to support various capital improvement programs over the next four years.

The parks will also be near a proposed housing development on Tarob Court by Toll Brothers, a luxury home construction company. The company is planning to build 43 townhomes and 13 accessible dwelling units along the court, with several townhomes reserved for moderate-income households.

The slew of projects come as the city seeks to redevelop approximately 437-acres of land in the southern portion of Milpitas, including a number of neighborhoods near the Great Mall. In the upcoming years, the area will be redesigned to accommodate hundreds of new homes, and thousands of square feet in office and retail space centered around the Milpitas Bart Station and VTA Light Rail system.

The city hopes adding parks to the housing and retail-dense area will provide green spaces where residents can exercise, relax, gather with neighbors and connect with nature. The future trees and plants will also improve air quality and act as buffers against noise pollution from nearby roads, according to the city.

Milpitas already boasts more than 30 city parks featuring amenities that include softball fields, tennis and basketball courts, playgrounds and picnic tables.