Will The Rise Increase Cupertino Home Values? What Buyers and Homeowners Should Know

By Bruce Wagg · Keller Williams · Updated June 2026

For years, the former Vallco Mall sat mostly vacant — a 50-acre gap in the middle of one of Silicon Valley's most sought-after cities. The Rise at Town Square West is the long-anticipated answer to that vacancy: a major mixed-use redevelopment bringing hundreds of homes, retail, office space, public plazas, and a reimagined city center to Cupertino.

As the project moves forward, homeowners and buyers alike are asking the same question: will The Rise push Cupertino home values higher, or introduce new uncertainty into an already competitive market?

The honest answer is that the full impact won't be known until the project is built and occupied. But there are concrete factors — some that favor higher values, some worth watching carefully — that anyone buying or selling near the Vallco site should understand now.

What The Rise Actually Includes

The Rise is not a simple apartment complex or strip mall replacement. The project is planned to include:

• Roughly 2,400 residential units, including a significant affordable housing component required under California's builder's remedy provisions
• Approximately 1.75 million square feet of office and research-and-development space
• Retail, dining, and entertainment space designed around a walkable town square concept
• A community center, parks, and public gathering areas
• Infrastructure improvements including streetscape upgrades along Stevens Creek Boulevard

The scale puts it among the largest mixed-use redevelopments in Santa Clara County history. That scale is exactly why its effect on home values is worth taking seriously.

The Case That The Rise Lifts Home Values

Several factors point toward a positive long-term effect on Cupertino real estate.

Walkability is increasingly priced into Bay Area homes

Cupertino has always commanded a premium for its schools and its proximity to Apple Park and other major employers. What it has historically lacked is a walkable urban core. The Rise is designed to change that. If it delivers a genuine mixed-use destination — places to eat, shop, and gather without getting in a car — nearby homes will offer something they don't today. Buyers who currently choose Sunnyvale or Mountain View partly for walkability may look at Cupertino differently once The Rise is operational.

Demand fundamentals in Cupertino are not going away

Even with 2,400 new units added to the Cupertino housing stock, the city is unlikely to tip into oversupply. The same factors that have driven Cupertino home values for decades remain intact: Cupertino Unified School District rankings, Apple's continued expansion at its Infinite Loop and Apple Park campuses, limited land for new single-family development, and one of the highest median household incomes in the country. New housing at The Rise absorbs some demand, but it doesn't eliminate the underlying pressure on the existing single-family and condo inventory.

The comparison to other successful mixed-use redevelopments is encouraging

Bay Area precedents — Santana Row in San Jose, the revitalization of downtown Walnut Creek, and the transformation of Emeryville from industrial wasteland to shopping and residential hub — suggest that well-executed mixed-use projects do tend to lift surrounding property values over time. The key word is "well-executed," which brings us to the risks.

What to Watch Carefully

Construction timelines and phasing

Large projects like The Rise are rarely built in a single phase. Office space, retail, and residential units typically come online at different times — meaning the "complete" version of The Rise could be years away from what's initially built. Homes adjacent to an active construction site and a half-occupied development will have a different market dynamic than homes near a finished, thriving town center. Buyers purchasing near Vallco today are partly betting on a future that isn't fully built yet.

How the office component performs

The Rise includes a substantial office and R&D footprint. In a post-pandemic commercial real estate market that continues to see elevated vacancy rates across Silicon Valley, whether that space gets fully leased and occupied will matter enormously for the project's energy and long-term success. A busy, employed tenant base drives foot traffic to retail and supports the kind of vibrant environment that lifts surrounding home values. Empty office towers do not.

Traffic and infrastructure

Adding thousands of residents and workers to a single site at Stevens Creek and Wolfe will place real pressure on nearby intersections and transit infrastructure. The planned streetscape improvements are part of the mitigation, but buyers near the site should evaluate proximity carefully. Streets closest to The Rise entry points may experience more congestion during peak commute hours than they do today.

School capacity

Cupertino Unified is one of the main reasons buyers pay a premium here. The residential units at The Rise will bring new families and new enrollment pressure. The district will need to address capacity if The Rise delivers its full buildout. This is worth monitoring for buyers with school-age children, though it's also worth noting that CUSD has navigated growth before without significant quality deterioration.

What Buyers Near The Rise Should Do Right Now

If you're considering a home in the neighborhoods closest to the Vallco site — Rancho Rinconada, the City Center area, or along Stevens Creek Boulevard — a few practical steps are worth taking before you make an offer:

• Review the current project entitlements and phasing schedule. The City of Cupertino's planning department maintains updated documents on The Rise's approvals and expected construction timeline.
• Walk the site at different times of day. Get a real sense of current noise, traffic, and what adjacent streets feel like. That's your baseline.
• Run a comparative market analysis specific to proximity. Are homes closest to the Vallco site trading at a discount, a premium, or in line with comparable streets farther away? That spread tells you something about how the market is currently pricing The Rise's uncertainty.
• Think in a five-to-seven-year horizon. If you're buying near a major redevelopment project, you're unlikely to see the full upside — or avoid the full disruption — in the first two years. Make sure your timeline matches the project's.

The Bottom Line

The Rise has the potential to be genuinely transformative for Cupertino — adding a walkable center to a city that has long been defined by its cul-de-sacs and surface parking lots. If the project executes well and the commercial space fills, the neighborhoods surrounding it will likely be more desirable to future buyers than they are today.

But "potential" is the operative word. The upside is real. So are the variables. Buyers who go in with clear eyes about both the timeline and the risks are the ones best positioned to benefit.