Prometheus’ downtown presence grows

The development also comprises 64 apartments in addition to the 65,000 square feet of office and 19,000 square feet for retail. Three of the retail businesses are up and running, including the recently-opened Reposado restaurant, Club Pilates and Squeeze Massage. Johnny’s second location, the original one in Half Moon Bay, plans to open soon, and SweatHouz and Juniper Cafe are starting construction.  

The retail and restaurant climate has been difficult for many small, local businesses, especially in increasingly valuable areas like downtown San Mateo. The district lost several restaurants at the end of last year, including Wursthall, Tomatina and Vespucci. But Eron Kosmowski, senior vice president of finance and commercial operations at Prometheus, is hopeful that with the addition of several others, like Reposado and Johnny’s, the area will maintain its strong dining presence. 

“We do have national tenants in our portfolio, but we wanted to bring a local flavor [to Brickline],” he said. “They are locally owned, whether it’s the Peninsula or San Francisco. That's the common success recipe.”

In December, Prometheus and Lane Partners announced they had signed a lease with Bay Area-based Woodlands Market, which is the site of the former Draeger's Market. The current building will be demolished to build a mixed-use development with the grocery store, 104,000 square feet of office space and 10 low-income housing units. The lease agreement came after city officials — based on extensive community concern — conditioned its approval on trying to find a grocery retail tenant in the new project. 

As city leaders review and sign off on an increasing number of mixed-use developments, however, many hope the new projects can still maintain vibrant ground floor retail spaces so surrounding residents can easily access restaurants, stores and other services — however, typically such uses are an added cost for developers. And unlike at the former Draeger’s site, city officials can’t always require commercial and retail uses if the development provides a certain amount of housing, especially below-market-rate units, due to state law.

Recently, a Belmont neighborhood group decided to take legal action over Prometheus’ recently approved affordable housing development on 580 Masonic Way. Residents and even city leaders chided the developer in council and commission meetings over the lack of publicly accessible ground floor businesses. Other residential projects, however, such as the Prometheus’ proposal at 668 E. Third Ave. received glowing reviews during a recent Planning Commission hearing. 

The developer is also taking advantage of its newly developed spaces and moved into the Brickline development a couple years ago, a move that has connected the firm with surrounding communities in which it develops, Kosmowski said. 

The hope is that as development continues, more businesses both small and large can settle long-term roots in the area. 

“Historically, downtown San Mateo hasn’t had a larger footprint of office buildings, so our thought is to bring that in and try to keep businesses there," Kosmowski said. “With some companies, like the Snowflakes of the world, they expand and then go to office parks, but we’re trying to really keep those great businesses downtown.”