A 189-unit apartment complex proposed for a parking lot at the Hayward Park Caltrain station is set to boost San Mateo’s housing stock if plans for the transit-oriented zone gain traction in the coming months.
The project proposed by the developer Sares-Regis Group is expected to offer six junior one-bedroom units, 90 one-bedroom units, 86 two-bedroom units and seven three-bedroom units just south of the Sunnybrae neighborhood and adjacent to the 19th Avenue Park neighborhood, according to a pre-application submitted to the city.
Currently a 225-space parking lot for the Hayward Park Caltrain station, the project is expected to occupy a narrow, 3-acre parcel situated between the Caltrain tracks and the 12-acre, 599-unit Station Park Green development. The site is expected to hold two five-story buildings, one of which will provide two floors of above-ground parking with 268 parking spaces to serve the entire development, according to the plans.
Acknowledging the project is in its preliminary planning stages, city planner Phillip Brennan said the plans as currently proposed provide more parking than what is required and added the developer is still determining how publicly-available parking spaces can be included in the plans.
The project is also about a block away from the proposed Passage project, a 961-unit, mixed-use development slated for the 14.5-acre Concar Shopping Center where Trader Joe’s and Ross Dress for Less currently operate, among other stores. Though the Passage project is currently under environmental review, residents may see a 73-unit apartment building slated to replace the AAA insurance office building at 1650 S. Delaware St. start to take shape after plans for that project were approved in August.
Given the region’s housing shortage, San Mateo resident Jon New was glad to see more housing proposed near train and bus stops. With other transit-oriented and mixed-use projects being proposed or taking shape nearby, New was hopeful the neighborhood would become more pedestrian-friendly, which he hoped would encourage residents to become less dependent on cars.
“Living near a Caltrain stop myself, I’ve seen a dramatic decrease in my car usage and I’m hopeful that future residents will see less of a need for car travel,” he said.
New also looked to the inclusion of more two- and three-bedroom units to attract families to the area, noting many of the residential projects recently proposed have included more studio and one-bedroom units.
Neighbors of the Passage project have previously voiced concerns about increased traffic congestion and the loss of retail stores like Ross Dress for Less in the neighborhood.
Though no dates for a public hearing on the Hayward Park station project have been set, Brennan said the developer’s pre-application would be reviewed at a later date by the Planning Commission, after which point a formal application could be submitted. He said neighborhood meetings to discuss the project with residents are the next step in the planning process for the project.
(13) comments
These proposed housing projects on Delaware St. needs to be stopped, we already build hundreds of new units, it only made traffic much worse and Hayward Park can no longer sustain that much housing. Not everyone is taking Caltrain, they can't go to most places in SM, there's more traffic on Hwy 92, because of places in Foster City and even schools, which public transit doesn't stop and go on time.
Great. Terrific. Should do wonders for the overcrowded schools and traffic congestion in the area!
There was no mention in the article about the affordability of the units so I assume they are all market rate which is not the solution we need to the housing crisis. To my knowledge, Caltrain never approached an affordable housing developer to present a proposal for this site which is in violation of State law that requires owners of public land to reach out to affordable housing developers before finalizing plans for their property. Caltrans is not acting in the best interest of the county.
David: All housing is affordable to someone who needs a place to live. If these apartments were not affordable they would be vacant and the landlord would be forced to reduce rents until they are affordable. The way to make housing more affordable is to increase supply.
Good point.
David.
Those 3 bedroom units look like a hot ticket!
There's plenty of "housing stock" in San Mateo County already. Probably 3000 units available today in San Mateo County.
The problem is that the "housing stock" is not affordable.
These stack and pack developers and Yimby's use a false narrative and conflate market rate housing with affordable housing.
These developments are market rate, stack and pack housing projects, and the like the thousands housing units the City of San Mateo has built in the past 10 years, these developments will do nothing to lower housing prices or solve the affordability crisis.
Thank you Mr. Wei for your steadfastness in making these points!!
Vincent: You should take Economics 101. Real estate prices are a function of supply and demand. We need more supply in order to make housing more affordable. Let the market work.
And so Tom you're so smart, Econ 101..tell me how many houses do we have to build in San Mateo for the market to become affordable?
Again, there are 3000 housing units sitting idle right now in San Mateo County...why no price drop Tom?
The price of housing has gone up in San Mateo not down, after building 1000's of units over the past number of years in the City of San Mateo alone. Why is that Tom?
The fact is that we would have to double the number of units in the Bay Area to have any impact on the price of housing. And even then it would still be 80% higher than the rest of the country on average.
A N L A O R E P O R T
The California Legislative Analyst's Office 2015 report "California's High Housing Costs - Causes and Consequences" details: [From 1980-2010]
"If California had added 210,000 new housing units each year over the past three decades (as opposed to 120,000), [enough to keep California’s housing prices no more than 80% higher than the median for the U.S. as a whole--the price differential which existed in 1980] population would be much greater than it is today.
We estimate that around 7 million additional people would be living in California.
In some areas, particularly the Bay Area, population increases would be dramatic. For example,
San Francisco’s population would be more than twice as large (1.7 million people versus around 800,000)."[18]
Vincent: There are 2 ways to reduce demand and bring down rents: 1) Build a lot more housing; 2) Stop building office buildings that create jobs that bring employees to the Peninsula. The problem we now have is there are a lot more jobs than there are units of housing for all the people who hold those jobs. We need to build a lot more housing until we have achieved equilibrium between jobs and housing and then stop adding more jobs.
I support more housing close to Caltrain stations. However, not everyone who rides Caltrain lives close enough to the station to walk, and they need a place to park their cars when they commute to work. Will there be replacement parking for commuters?
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