New affordable senior housing moves forward in Burlingame

Originally, ambitious plans for the property, dubbed the Peninsula Wellness Community, included both market-rate and affordable senior housing units, a community center and a health care hub.

That development idea became financially untenable, per the board, and was killed in October 2024. Now, the PHCD board has issued a request for proposals for a 2-acre, 100% affordable senior housing community project design.

The PHCD was unable to separate project components — residential housing, affordable housing and a medical office space — in the previous design iteration due to its agreement with the developers, Lawrence Cappel, Peninsula Health Care District board chair, said.

Issuing a new RFP for only the affordable housing component of the project is the first step toward creating a financially feasible development, Cappel said, however, he remains hopeful other elements of the wellness center will also come to fruition over time.

“I think the original vision will come forward, maybe not in the same scale as that we had exactly, originally,” he said.

MidPen Housing was originally selected to helm an entirely affordable, 152-unit portion of the project and, in October, was subsequently informed it would not be moving forward. Developers PCB and Generations were slated for other elements of the project, like its market-rate housing and wellness center.

These developers had expressed frustration around the time and effort that was put into the project over a five-year period. MidPen Housing, for example, put in almost $400,000 in out-of-pocket costs on this plan. The county had also allocated $400,000 in financial resources and 38 project-based vouchers, which have since been returned but were unavailable for other projects for years.

Cappel said he would be happy to see MidPen apply again under the new RFP.

Affordable housing advocates, who had been key to the original inclusion of affordable housing for seniors on the property, were disappointed when the project was scrapped in October.

Evelyn Stivers, Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County executive director, said that she was happy to see the district move forward with new affordable housing plans, though, she remained concerned the health care district wasn’t adequately prepared to helm such a large development.

“I’m so glad that they’re prioritizing housing. I’m so glad that they’re prioritizing affordable housing,” she said. “I hope that if they do get stuck again, that they do reach out, that they don’t see the city or the county as being a competitor or an enemy or taking away their credibility, but that they see the city and the county as essential partners.”

Cappel disputed the idea that PCHD was unequipped to handle the project and maintained that the board was focused on creating affordable housing for San Mateo County’s vulnerable senior population.

“Even though the vision was clear, how to get to that vision sometimes became difficult,” he said. “It’s much more clear now — all five members of the board are very much in tune with the idea of the affordable housing component.”