14-acre biotech, mixed-use site moves ahead in South San Francisco

“One of the great complaints for the biotech on the east side is that there is nothing there for the employees, so you are going to have a Safeway with all the departments,” Councilmember Mark Addiego said.

The remaining 11 acres will be split into three parcels to construct a multifamily residential building containing 183 units, three research and development buildings totaling approximately 750,000 square feet and a parking garage that will be split with public walkways and retail amenities. The developer is asking for it to be 105 feet though the height limit for the area is currently 80 feet.

This site answers those calls for action and will also benefit the community, Addiego added.

Noise policies

The project sits approximately 2 miles from San Francisco International Airport and falls in the jurisdiction of airport land use, which has policies regarding noise levels. For the project to continue, the developers must ask the council to override the Airport Land Use Committee with the City/Counties Association of Governments of San Mateo County’s noise compatibility policy, which would ultimately release the airports’ liability from any excessive noise-related issues, the residents and tenants may have.

Along with the override, the commission added a condition of safety requirements to protect public health and safety.

Parking spaces

The proximity to the San Bruno BART Station and SamTrans service on El Camino Real offers the developers flexibility in parking space reduction as the goal is to reduce traffic and become more environmentally focused.

The project, in total, plans to have 1,400 parking spaces, which equate to 1.65 spaces per 1,000 square feet of research and development area and 1.58 spaces per unit in the residential building for a total of 290.

Councilmember Eddie Flores questioned whether the proposed parking layout would create problems with residents opting to park at the Safeway out of convenience, rather than badging into their residential parking garage and going around to Huntington Avenue, where the designated residential parking is currently being proposed.

“I think that we need to restructure the surface parking lot for Safeway, it is definitely not going to be enough,” Flores said.

Mayor Mark Nagales also raised concerns that nearby neighbors would be inconvenienced if the parking is not enough.

“The residents who live across the street, one of their concerns are potentially people parking in their neighborhood because they can’t find parking,” Nagales said.

Councilmember James Coleman raised concerns that the research and development buildings could be switched to all electric. He suggested developers speak to representatives with Peninsula Clean Energy, which offers free assistance to be all electric.

Community Benefits

Because of the height request, the developer is offering a $2.4 million community benefit fund intended for a new community facility and median improvements on El Camino Real.

A project development fee totaling $45 million is being allocated most notably: $24.4 million to citywide transportation, $12.5 million for commercial linkage, $5.2 million for parks and recreation, $1.5 million for child care, $1 million for public safety fee and $200,000 to the library.

“It’s really important to us to be giving back to the community, as well as the city, along with having a successful project,” SteelWave Senior Managing Director Steve Dunn said.

nick@smdailyjournal.com

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