BART extension forces San Jose small business to shut down

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — The long-awaited BART extension between North San Jose and Santa Clara is well under construction. That’s good news for commuters, but bad news for businesses in the area.

The owner of a sheet rock says he has to vacate his business by Wednesday. Some of these slabs of sheet rock at Silicon Valley Granite are worth several thousand dollars.

Sridhar Kollareddy is racing against the clock. He has to abandon his business of 20 years by midnight Thursday.

Kollareddy says once VTA takes over his property through a court order, all of it will be impounded. He says he’s losing out on millions of dollars.

Silicon Valley Granite is located exactly where a new BART station is set to be built. It’s the 28th- little Portugal station. It’s part of the VTA’s massive project to bring BART to Santa Clara.

Court records show that Silicon Valley Granite is being taken over by eminent domain. Kollareddy says they were negotiating on a price — at least several million dollars to buy him out.

He says the eviction papers came last month as a shock and says now he is not even getting a penny.

“The business owner was given two separate deadlines, beginning almost two years in advance, and chose not to leave the property or file for relocation reimbursement,” the VTA said.

Kollareddy says he was offered $1.5 million, but he wanted $6 million.

Kollareddy says his place is valuable and so is the product. But instead of continuing negotiations, he says the VTA is forcing him out.

But for now, the project is full steam ahead to build BART’s long-awaited connector, and Kollareddy is stuck between a rock and a hard place.