Redwood City’s Sequoia Station under new ownership

Redwood City’s Sequoia Station Shopping Center is under new ownership, creating questions about the future of the site that was slated to be redeveloped with millions of square feet of both office and housing.

Hunter Properties is the new owner of the Sequoia Station Shopping Center, a site formerly owned by Lowe, a development firm that purchased the site in December of 2021. The firm had planned to redevelop the 12-acre site with 1.25 million square feet of office space, 175,000 square feet of retail space and up to 631 housing units.

City spokesperson Jeanne Sullivan Billeci said staff met with Hunter Properties this week and plans to meet with the firm again after the holidays to discuss short- and long-term plans for the property. No new development plans have been submitted to the city as of yet, Sullivan Billeci said. Hunter Properties did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

“Hunter Properties has expressed their intent to continue to work with the City to further the City’s goals and vision for the transit center. They also acknowledged that in the shorter term, financing is challenging for all developers and the demand for office space continues to evolve. We also expressed our interest in enhancing the shopping experience at Sequoia Station. We look forward to more substantive discussions in the coming months,” Sullivan Billeci said in an email Friday.

In addition to developing new housing and office space, Lowe had stated its intent to dedicate an acre of land to Caltrain to help the transit agency redevelop and expand its nearby station. The transportation agency aims to add two additional tracks to Sequoia Station, increasing it from two tracks to four and connecting the Peninsula to the East Bay, the Dumbarton rail and high-speed rail.

Without the additional acre from the redevelopment, Caltrain would likely have to use eminent domain to achieve its expansion goals, demolishing the Safeway and CVS sitting along the property line, according to the project narrative. With the redevelopment plan, Lowe planned to preserve the large retailers on different parts of the site.

The redeveloped site would have also featured a 10,000-square-foot child care facility and 86,000 square feet of open space including pedestrian and bicycle improvements. The housing proposed in the project, including 254 listed at various levels of affordability, would have also helped the city reach its regional housing needs goals determined by the state.

Housing and public transportation advocates supported the project. Alternatively, many residents had come out against the project, which they said would cause traffic congestion and further exacerbate the housing shortage by building additional office space. The proposal was in the early phase of development, having had its application deemed incomplete, according to the city’s online development page.