New senior housing in Burlingame in works

The buildings, located on a 2-acre site, would also include onsite social services, community spaces like a Burlingame senior commons, courtyard, and a plaza to connect the development to the broader community, per the developers’ report. 

The proposal was the only formal request for proposal the district received at its meeting Oct. 23, and the board will now work to create a memorandum of understanding with the developers and sign a ground lease by December, Board Chair Lawrence Cappel said. 

“It seems to be coming together well, and we want to move as quickly as we can, as does the developer,” he said. “So I think we've got something that we could hang our hats on.” 

The health care district, which previously operated Peninsula Hospital in the space where Sutter-owned Mills-Peninsula Medical Center now stands, used its tax money to purchase nearby property and had plans to develop an ambitious medley of affordable and market-rate senior housing, health care resources and medical offices, dubbed the Peninsula Wellness Center. Those plans were formalized in 2018. 

Community advocates have been pushing for affordable housing on the site for years, and were frustrated and angry when the district quietly scrapped the entire plan for the Peninsula Wellness Center in 2024, citing mounting construction costs and various financial challenges with the developers. 

The district promised those advocates that despite the cancelation of the original project, the board was still working to ensure affordable housing be developed on the land — so the board meeting, when the new proposal was introduced, was celebratory, housing advocate Karyl Eldridge said. 

“There was a sense of celebration that was shared by the board and staff of Peninsula Health Care District, and by the community members who had advocated so strenuously for the use of this parcel for affordable housing,” she said. 

Previous board members had prioritized use of the land for a wellness center, with the inclusion of affordable housing coming only after pushback from community members and political leaders. Eldridge said she was appreciative of the fact that affordable housing was now the first priority. 

“When the community members first presented them with the idea of creating affordable housing on that land, they, how shall I say — they were not interested,” she said. “We clamored long and hard. What I have observed is that they fully appreciate the community need at this point, and they fully appreciate the ability of this land to contribute to meeting that need.” 

The remaining 4 acres of land still has the potential to fulfill the original goals of the Peninsula Wellness Center plan, including potential medical office buildings that could serve the nearby Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, Cappel said. 

“They have some needs, and certainly we have some land, and so there might be a marriage there at some point,” he said. 

The proposed affordable housing development is still in its beginning stages. Early plans from developers propose completion of the first building by 2030 and the second by 2032, and the entire project will need to go through Burlingame’s regulatory process.