Housing for San Mateo Safeway site

“Current store employees will keep their jobs and be provided temporary reassignments to other, nearby Safeway stores while the new store is under construction,” the press release stated.

The proposal marks at least the seventh new housing development that the city has received in just the last six weeks in San Mateo, bringing the city’s total development pipeline to more than 6,500 housing units and representing major progress in the city’s housing goals.

All cities in California must plan and issue permits for a certain number of housing units, as determined by the Department of Housing and Community Development, during an eight-year cycle, known as the Regional Housing Needs Assessment. During this current cycle, which ends in 2031, San Mateo must plan for at least 7,015 units. That means the city’s current development pipeline represents at least 90% of its 2023-31 RHNA goals, assuming all units are approved.

“By transforming an underutilized site, this proposal will create nearly 400 new homes, including affordable units, while strengthening and expanding convenient access to fresh, nutritious food and everyday essential services for residents,” David Balducci, managing principal at Align Real Estate, said in a press release.

The city has seen one of the highest influxes of multifamily residential development applications in the last two years in the county. Much of that is a result of Measure T, which was passed in November 2024 and amended the city’s previous five-story building limit. Now, several parts of the city, including transit-rich corridors, have higher building caps that make it easier for developers to build denser and taller buildings.

Other large-scale projects have been newly submitted or amended over the past year and a half, including plans to redevelop the Hillsdale Shopping Center, which will replace most of the current mall with 1,670 new housing units and retail and office buildings. Two new single-family home neighborhoods are in the works — one is taking over an office park on South Amphlett Boulevard and the other will replace the office campus on Clearview Way, which houses GoPro offices. The parking lot and shopping center on Concar Drive will be redeveloped to make room for nearly 850 new housing units and commercial space.

As development applications continue piling in, however, some residents have expressed concern over whether important public services and amenities, like grocery stores will remain, given other uses, like office space, often tend to be more financially viable for developers. Over the last few years, several grocery stores, such as Trag’s Market, Draeger’s Market and Mollie Stone’s have shut down, and depending on the type of building, cities are also limited in whether they can mandate the inclusion of grocery stores in the new developments — though some developers have more recently committed to maintaining a grocery presence at their new sites.

Community Development Director Zach Dahl said in a statement that the city “recognizes the importance of having a grocery store in this area” and that staff is still in the process of reviewing the application information.

The development would also include about 136 retail parking spaces and 396 residential parking spaces within two levels of below grade parking, the press release added.