Development interest up in San Mateo, despite slow construction period

While it still has about six years before the end of the RHNA cycle, the first couple years got off to a slow start, due to several macroeconomic factors, including high interest rates and a tough lending environment for developers. About halfway through last year, nine large development projects in San Mateo requested entitlement extensions, largely due to difficulty securing financing, such as Block 21 and the Caltrain-adjacent Hayward Park Station building.

But development applications are starting to pick up, in part due to Measure T, which passed in November and raises height and density limits in certain parts of the city, including near Caltrain stations.

A post-Measure T application for the 1650 S. Amphlett Blvd. site would demolish seven three-story office buildings to make room for 192 condominiums and 64 single-family homes. Developers for Concar Passage resubmitted an application in February to create 869 housing units, and the Hillsdale Shopping Center will undergo a major redevelopment, with the Bohannon Properties recently announcing plans to demolish a large chunk of the shopping center to make room for additional commercial uses and 1,392 housing units.

The projects give a much-needed boost to a general slowdown, though Jeremy Levine, policy manager at the Housing Leadership Council, said the city should be aware that some of the developments will take a long time to come to fruition.

“Of all those units … that have recently been submitted in new development applications, a lot of them are going to be built on 10- or 20-year timelines,” Levine said. “So the city, as it celebrates its hard work, I think it could be looking at ways to speed up the entitlement process and the permitting process, so that you can continue pushing up these numbers, while ensuring that staff have the time and capacity to process the hopefully ever-increasing number of applications that will come.”

San Mateo isn’t the only city trying to catch up. Foster City’s recent progress update showed it has fulfilled an even smaller percentage of its RHNA figures, and according to data from the Fair Housing Elements, only a fraction of the state's jurisdictions are on track with their housing goals.

“2023 and 2024 were slower due to larger economic factors going on, but I think we’re laying the groundwork well for significant progress for the coming year and years,” Community Development Director Zach Dahl said.

alyse@smdailyjournal.com

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