Foster City's Parkside Towers adding life science use

The site at 1001 and 1051 E. Hillsdale Blvd. is home to two office buildings over a three-story parking garage, with 30,000 square feet of a park and outdoor area. The eight-story buildings have a shared parking garage from floors one through three and an office from floors four through eight. While the office has an 86% occupancy rate, the building’s owner expects it to drop to 70% within the next year to 18 months, with significant challenges in finding tenants, according to a staff report. The property owner, real estate developer Harvest Property, hopes the additional R&D use on the floors above the retail ground space will improve vacancy rates through strong market demand.

Cities up and down the Peninsula are approving or considering life science buildings along the Bayfront. The owner could relocate tenants to one tower and convert the other but would likely need a long-term commitment from an R&D tenant before converting offices to laboratories.

The site is home to IBM and other corporations nearby. Parkside Towers is also not far from the Foster City Library and Marriott Courtyard Hotel.

Planning Commission Chair Evan Adams felt the changes were appropriate given they would not significantly change the area’s jobs-to-housing ratio or affect the city’s housing responsibilities under its Regional Housing Needs Allocation, a state mandate that cities must adequately plan to meet its local housing need.

“I view the project as fine,” Adams said. “It’s not a net increase in jobs and doesn’t have a RHNA impact, and it doesn’t have any water increase and keeps the outdoor public water amenity running.”

The Planning Commission approved land use and permitted zoning changes to allow up to 373,000 square feet of research and development use and office use on floors four through eight at the existing building. No exterior changes would be made to the building. The Planning Commission previously held a Jan. 20 study session on the proposal, with all commissioners supportive of the R&D use. According to a staff report, the new plans would require more water use at the site, which the owner hopes to offset through facility and irrigation upgrades. Changes include new emergency generators, elevators, adding more storage areas for hazardous material and waste, along with improvements for a laboratory airflow system.