Pines

Bounded by Highway 880, Montague Expressway, South Main Street and the Great Mall Parkway, Pines is a small, boring community in Milpitas. It is almost exclusively residential with a blend of one and two-story, middle-class homes. Though there are some unglamorous stretches of residential real-estate, homes are mostly a bit nicer than the typical Milpitas residence. For your shopping needs, the area is just down the street from the Great Mall, an enormous shopping mall still stuck in the 1980’s. But then again, it has every commercial amenity you could want.

Pines’ residential terrain carries a traditional--albeit outdated--1980’s suburban ambiance. Homes are a bit more expensive than Milpitas’s average, circling around $600,000. Of these homes, they have been remodeled, or added onto to give a more trendier, updated feel. In fact, each residence comes with the typical middle-class amenities, including mediocre interior living quarters, two-car garages and small front lawns with trimmed bushes. Though upkeep on these houses can be a bit drastic, considering the age and weathered outdoor look. If you’re driving through the neighborhood, you’ll notice the wide roads which yield an abundance of street parking for those old, gritty cars to park along.

Pines is a very boring, uninterested neighborhood. For recreation, Pinewood Park is your only option. It lays at the heart of the community and only offers a large kids play area and a small, grassy field. Elsewhere, you can find Pearl Zanker Elementary School, which lies adjacent to the neighborhood’s quarters. And finally, the only semblance of commercial activity is situated along South Main Street. There, you can find a bike shop, an auto care center, a rent-a-car center and other such random businesses.

Pines is basically known as the residential neighborhood just to the southwest of the Great Mall. So if you love 1980’s style megamalls and want to live within walking distance of one you may very well have found home.

The neighborhood is built around Pinewood Park (which is by the way very nice for a smaller park, having a sand-filled play area for the kids and tennis courts for the adults).

Overall this is a pretty solid neighborhood with lots of well-kept ranch homes (perhaps a bit on the smaller side as far as ranch homes go).

The Great Mall also means good things for public transportation with several buses serving the area and the VTA light rail station being right by northeast end. If you are a commuter and want to get some work done on your way to work, the VTA is a great option.

Perhaps because of this, homes here tend to be pricier than in other parts of Milpitas (with the median price even of foreclosed homes being in the $550K range).

Overall, a pretty nice little neighborhood, though perhaps a little bit on the expensive side.