By Paul Cardoso · Bay Area With Paul · Updated September 8, 2026

Fremont · 94536 · Cabrillo

If you know the corner of Fremont Boulevard and Decoto Road, you probably know it as Regan Nursery. My video looks at the housing conversation around this familiar local spot. Here is the fuller story, with the latest City information and the questions worth following.

First, where does the 13,000-home number come from?

Nearly 13,000 homes is Fremont’s assigned share of regional housing need for the 2023–2031 planning period. It is a citywide figure, not the number of homes proposed for Regan Nursery. More than 7,000 of those units fall within affordable-income categories. The City explains the larger planning requirement in its Housing Element overview.

Planning for homes and completing homes are different stages. The citywide number should not be read as a promise that every unit will be built by a particular date. For this corner, the question is what the site-specific planning process will produce.

What is planned for the nursery property?

The Fremont-Decoto Land Development Plan covers 9.59 acres of City-owned land at 4178–4268 Decoto Road. The City is planning residential development with an affordable-housing component and evaluating housing production, community benefits, and state requirements.

The City’s project summary describes the work as being in the planning stage. It anticipates entitlement hearings in early 2027, followed by developer selection, disposition of the land, and the Surplus Land Act process. A developer concept-plan application is expected in 2028. Those are planning estimates, not a construction start date.

An upcoming chance to learn more

The City has announced a second informational community meeting for Wednesday, September 23, 2026, from 5:30–7:00 p.m. at Centerville Community Center, 3355 Country Drive, Fremont.

The meeting will share information similar to the first meeting held in May. It is intended for people who missed that session and anyone newly interested in the project. An online survey is also available through the project webpage. See the City’s September 4 announcement for the details and check for updates before attending.

The questions I would keep asking

• How many homes will the eventual proposal include, and what types?
• How will traffic, parking, walking, and bicycle access be handled?
• What will the building heights and street frontage look like?
• What affordable housing and public improvements will be included?
• What will the transition mean for Regan Nursery?

My local perspective

A familiar business gives a place an identity. That deserves a place in the conversation alongside Fremont’s need for housing. I want to understand how the eventual design will work for the people who already live, shop, and travel through this area, as well as the people who may live there in the future.

For homeowners, I would not jump to a prediction about property values from an early planning announcement. The details of a proposal and the broader market matter. For now, getting informed and asking specific questions is the useful next step.

Have a question about this project or another local story? Ask Paul. You can also explore Around Town or get to know the FUN Cities neighborhoods.

As always, be good to each other. Cheers.