A years-long fight over chunks of land next to the future 28th Street/Little Portugal BART station in San Jose is barreling toward a possible jury trial, even as the transit agency now says it does not need some of the property. Small businesses and property owners caught in the dispute say the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s condemnation push and orders to clear out have already upended their work, triggering costly moves and operational chaos. If a jury gets the case, the main question will shift from whether VTA can take the land to how much it has to pay for it.
As reported by The Mercury News, VTA filed suit in 2021 to condemn the parcels and later asked a Santa Clara County judge to order businesses off the site before any final ruling. The outlet quotes Monarch Truck Center CEO Nicole Guetersloh saying, “We were told we needed to leave so construction could start, but it has been almost two years, and nothing has happened.”
One of the properties named in court filings is occupied by Monarch Truck Center, which says it had to leave its North 30th Street location and now operates out of 1015 Timothy Drive in San Jose. Monarch Truck Center lists the Timothy Drive address online, and federal carrier data from FMCSA shows the same location. Business directories and public filings indicate the company previously ran its San Jose operations from North 30th Street before the move.
Why the parcels matter
The disputed parcels sit inside the zone VTA has mapped out for the 28th Street/Little Portugal BART station and a cluster of transit-oriented development that could bring housing, retail and a public plaza to the neighborhood. According to VTA project documents, the station is planned behind Five Wounds Portuguese National Parish and would feature a plaza area and bike parking. The fight also mirrors other skirmishes over BART-adjacent land, including a separate downtown battle linked to a proposed high-rise known in city paperwork as the Eterna Tower, described in a City of San José planning file…