The new owners of the Vallco Shopping Mall in Cupertino, Calif., have announced that they intend to transform the outdated shopping mall into a multi-purpose complex, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
The Sand Hill Property Company's $3 billion plan, called The Hills at Vallco, includes constructing downtown-style retail buildings, office buildings, and rental homes on a street grid, all contained by a man-made open space reserve. The plan calls for 625,000 sf of entertainment space, two million sf of office space, and 800 apartments.
The highlight of the design is the what the Mercury News calls the "largest green roof in the world": a 30-acre park that will be built above the mall. The $300 million roof will start at street level and gradually rise and spread across bridges and onto the new buildings. The park will have a 3.8-mile trail, vineyards, orchards, and gardens, and may eventually get an amphitheater and playground.
Sand Hill chose Rafael Viñoly Architects and OLIN Landscape Architects to lead the project. Development plans will be submitted to the city in a few weeks, and the proposal could go up for review by the city council in the summer or fall of 2016.
