Following a land transfer agreement with BART, Millbrae officials said development proposals targeting city property near the train station are on track to start moving ahead.
The Millbrae City Council unanimously approved a proposal last week conveying the “kiss and ride” lot near the train station from BART back to city ownership, completing terms of an earlier agreement designed to facilitate construction at the transit hub.
The decision that has been years in the making frees officials to begin soliciting offers for development on city property near the station and Mayor Ann Schneider anticipated that process to begin shortly.
Schneider said officials will be seeking proposals putting the land around the station to the “highest and best use,” which will generate income for a city budget strained over the last year by the pandemic.
A hotel with meeting space and also office buildings or other commercial developments are those most intriguing to city officials, said Schneider, who anticipated that requests for proposals will be issued in the coming months.
The commitment aligns with the interest of developer Mark Calvano, who for years has pushed to build sweeping commercial projects on sites around the station.
“We strongly believe the councilmembers should immediately be afforded the opportunity to consider the enormous tax-generation possibilities from and for the community-owned land parcels at the largest multimodal station west of the Mississippi,” said Calvano in a letter sent to city officials in February.
In 2019, Calvano unveiled initial plans to build an eight-story commercial complex neighboring an eight-story hotel at the corner of El Camino Real and Millbrae Avenue where Peter’s Café is located.
The project was comprised of 444,000 square feet of office space spread over 26,000 square feet of retail space in a tower next to a 160-room hotel. Parking would be accommodated with 860 stalls in a four-story garage underground.
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Additionally, Calvano responded to a requests for qualifications to redevelop a site to the east of the station owned by the city currently used as a corporation yard. According to the proposal, Calvano imagined building a data center that could be anchored by a tech tenant such as Amazon, Apple or Microsoft.
“Calvano’s vision for this city-owned 2.6-acre site is to develop a building that will both serve as a data center and augment overall development at the station by providing amenity spaces to serve a large tech office user to be located on the west side,” said the document sent in December.
Beyond Calvano’s interest, Millbrae officials are hopeful the recent land transfer agreement will facilitate construction of the Serra Station project proposed by property owner Vince Muzzi, who is planning to build 444 housing units, more than 270,000 square feet of offices and up to approximately 30,000 square feet of retail space in three towers reaching up to 10 stories.
The Serra Station development was approved at the same time as the Gateway at Millbrae Station project, which is underway on BART land. The project is comprised of four buildings that are four to seven stories tall. One residential building features 300 market rate units and 20 units affordable to moderate-income people, plus 13,749 square feet of ground floor retail. The other residential building consists of 80 affordable units reserved for veterans. Another building has 151,583 square feet of offices and 22,534 square feet of ground floor retail and the hotel offers 164 rooms.
As officials further examine the future of the station, they recently loosened regulations that would allow construction of research and development space for life sciences companies nearby. The decision flew in the face of the City/County Association of Governments’ Airport Land Use Committee, which had determined such development below the flight path of the nearby San Francisco International Airport could be a public health hazard.
In defending the decision, Schneider had said she believed it is critical officials look for opportunities to bolster the city’s budget by allowing for economic development.
Looking ahead, Calvano favored that sentiment.
“We really appreciate the council understanding how important these parcels are and their potential for terrific revenue generation for the community,” he said in an email. “And we look forward to participating once the council is finally afforded the opportunity to opine on revenue generating projects. We would love to help deliver a substantial revenue boost to help avoid budget cuts to essential city services.”
(3) comments
Also, we’re fortunate to have Calvano interested in getting approvals even at the bottom of this recession. I hope we capitalize on it!
This is really great! I’m glad Millbrae is finally moving forward with putting this taxpayer owned land to use. It has been underdeveloped for too long. The revenue from development here will be a huge boost for our schools, infrastructure and other city services. Also, in terms of transportation, traffic and climate change, these lots next to the station make the most sense for big building. I’m looking forward to proposals coming in soon!
I really appreciate the well-written article. We hear from the most important and "essential" parties in the Developments -- City Council and Developers. The City Council has two very important "Sub-Committees" focused on both east-side and west-side Developments: the Development Committee Vice Mayor Anne Oliva and Councilwoman Gina Papan; the Technical Committee Councilman Reuben Holober and Councilman Anders Fung. They are responsible to report-out to the Mayor and community (We the People) about progress, or lack thereof, at least during "Council Comments." The Councilmembers are the "channels" from which We the People are kept appraised of information on the most important revenue-generation long-term and sustainable -- Developments. I, for one, am very grateful to "The Daily Journal" and Reporter Austin Walsh for the good journalism article providing the "essentials" to We the People. We hope to hear more especially because the Councilmembers have directed the City Manger with their #1 Goal be focused on "Developments."
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