With uncertainty blanketing the future of Berryessa Flea Market vendors, San Jose officials have ramped up the push to find an alternative location for the hundreds of businesses that could be displaced when the economic hub and cultural treasure faces closure.
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Known affectionately as “La Pulga,” the market has served as an incubator for minority and small businesses for more than six decades, but for the last few years, vendors have grown more anxious over their fate because the 60-plus-acre site is being eyed for the future Berryessa BART Urban Village project.
Recognizing the importance of the market and the stress placed on businesses, elected officials have asked the city to continue to evaluate potential sites — including a former landfill and locations along the VTA and BART’s right-of-ways near the station — and provide a more concrete timeline for relocation.
“We can pat ourselves on the back for what we are doing now, but we wouldn’t be here had we not failed in 2007 during the original entitlement process to protect such an economically important and culturally important institution,” District 10 Councilmember George Casey said. “I think it’s incumbent on us to find a solution … I don’t care what side of the political aisle you are on. The fact that 400-plus small businesses are having the rug pulled out from them is deplorable.”
For many San Jose residents and city councilmembers, the flea market holds a special place in their hearts — from a place of joy in their formative years to passing the memories on to their families’ future generations. It also has helped many people become entrepreneurs, including hundreds who rent space every month.
Adding to its economic significance, the market supports more than 1,000 jobs and serves between 836,000 and 1.7 million visitors annually, generating between $20 million and $40 million in sales.
However, since 2021, vendors and the city have scrambled to explore other options for the market as the urban village project slated for the land promises to bring thousands of homes and millions of square feet of office space online.
“This isn’t just a deadline,” vendor Mario Davila said. “It’s a countdown for hundreds of small businesses. It could be the end of our plans, dreams and commitments.”
As part of the negotiations, developers agreed to set aside $5 million to help offset losses when the market closes and to reserve five acres for a small version of the market, which city officials acknowledged could not accommodate all vendors. Developers also agreed that they would give vendors a one-year notice of closure, though the city has attempted to negotiate a larger period to give vendors more time to plan their next move.
While developers have said they will not provide the one-year notice sooner than Dec. 31, the uncertainty has prompted vendors to push the city to act more urgently to find a new home for the market.
“Here we are five years later, and we still have no real solution to the issues of displacement of over five hundred small businesses in the city of San Jose,” Berryessa Flea Market Vendors Association President Roberto Gonzalez said. “We want to ensure that the market stays in San Jose and we’re asking for your guidance and thoughtfulness in this process as well as commitment today in showing not just the vendors but the community that La Pulga is a cornerstone in San Jose and should remain for another 65-plus years.”
Blage Zelalich, deputy director of the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs, said the city had an alternative site assessment conducted, analyzing eight locations based on trade area, demographics, traffic patterns, facility size, parking access, and feasibility. However, it found that relocation was complicated and expensive due to the limited number of suitable sites and the high cost of acquiring and developing them.
Even the three most viable sites — the former Sears at Eastridge Mall, the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, and the Singleton Landfill — face size limitations, environmental concerns, and ownership restrictions.
Zelalich said the city identified the Singleton Landfill, which operated from 1964 to 1978, as the best long-term option but noted it had significant hurdles.
She said it required three to five years of environmental mitigation at $3 million to $4 million per acre for flea market use and additional construction costs were typically higher at landfill sites.
Adding to the complexity of the problem, the California Surplus Land Act requires the city to offer up the property first for affordable housing development. San Jose applied to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development for an exemption on the grounds that the site could be used for employment and revenue-generating development but was denied.
Although development at the Berryessa site may be several years away due to the challenges posed by the current economy, District 4 Councilmember David Cohen is pushing San Jose to release a request for proposals at the Singleton site to clear the city of its obligations, believing that the high cost to both remediate the property and then develop it would prevent a housing developer from coming forward.
While Cohen also expressed frustration over the lack of productive conversation with VTA and BART over other potential nearby land that could be used — besides the five acres set aside at the current site — he has asked the city to continue the dialogue and potentially pursue a partnership.
“I think there’s an opportunity for us to now open a broader conversation with VTA about not just the area under the BART tracks but some of the other areas in their plaza and parking lot that are underutilized on that site,” Cohen said.
District 5 City Councilmember Peter Ortiz said the new direction the city is embarking on needed to move the needle on securing the legacy of the flea market, which he noted was the largest cluster of small businesses in the South Bay and provided a path for economic self-sufficiency.
“This isn’t simply about just one site,” Ortiz said. “It’s about preserving this longstanding economic institution — a very powerful economic institution — in our city.”