New Harbor View offices get commission OK in Redwood City

In its current iteration, the project at 320-350 Blomquist St. would include 765,150 square feet of total office space spread across four buildings, a parking structure and surface parking with 2,591 stalls and a 35,000-square-foot employee amenities building. And about 42% of the site will be used as public open space.

Jay Paul Company, the team behind the project, is also offering roughly $65 million in additional community benefits in exchange for a zoning map and General Plan amendments, which would allow the office space to be built on a property currently zoned for industrial use.

Curtis Bank, a contracted principal planner working on the project, said staff supports the application and amendments because they feel the size and location of the site are well suited and what is proposed would have a similar impact on traffic, environment and other factors if what was proposed fell in line with zoning regulations.

But the project has been met with some pushback. When discussing the project during a study session in July, councilmembers pushed for the developer to incorporate more housing into its project.

As proposed, Jay Paul Company is offering to deed restrict 64 existing units at extremely low-income levels and to donate those units to the St. Francis Center. Of those units, 19 are currently being rented by families who can either continue paying their existing rent or apply for reduced rent by proving their income levels.

During Tuesday’s meeting, some community members shared similar concerns that the number of housing units would not be enough to offset the number of jobs brought in from the project. Staff estimates that more than 3,000 employees could end up working on the campus.

And Gita Dev with the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter argued the project’s long-term effects on traffic congestion and the site’s vulnerability to sea-level rise even after being raised were not worth accepting the community benefits.

“It’s not to say that we don’t need housing, that we’re not in desperate need of housing, but this is not the way to create housing,” Dev said.

But other speakers implored the commission to grant their recommendation, most of whom were affiliated with the St. Francis Center including Executive Director Sister Christina Heltsley and Hugo Torres, Siena Youth Center program director.

Many asserted the support offered by Jay Paul would go a long way in aiding the city’s housing crisis given that units would be available at low prices immediately. Torres, reflecting on the council’s July discussion, also said the project developer should not be expected to fix the city’s troubles alone, asserting “something is better than nothing.”

“I heard everyone discussing what they wanted and what they thought and everyone wanted more, they wanted more housing, they wanted more money, more this, more that. I get it. But, their wants are not superior to the needs of this community. There is a need and there is also an opportunity with this project to do something about it,” Torres said.

The team had initially sought to build a commercial campus of more than a million square feet on the site but has greatly whittled down the project size since first submitting plans in 2015. Meanwhile, contributions to community benefits continued to increase over the years including another $9 million since July’s meeting when developers initially said their previous $54 million offer was their last.

Despite expressing some concerns about the level of parking on-site and access to public transportation, commissioners ultimately backed the project, agreeing developers have adequately addressed the city’s concerns and impacts within its plan, the project would be a better use of the underutilized land and the benefits were too good to pass up on.

“The way you get a flourishing city isn’t by throttling what kind of development [is built]. It’s the abundance of the things people need,” Commissioner Isabella Chu said. “If we think about the future of our city, I would really love to have a vision of letting the city really grow and flourish and I think this project is in keeping with that future.”