The Gateway at Millbrae, currently housing a mix of transit-adjacent apartments, office and retail space, is poised to become the new home of Samtrans’ district headquarters, as the county transportation agency approved the next steps in securing a more updated and centrally located building for employees.
The SamTrans Board of Directors authorized General Manager/CEO April Chan to move forward in acquiring the 180,000-square-foot building neighboring the BART and Caltrain stations during a meeting Monday, Dec. 18, a significant milestone in a multiyear process originating before the pandemic.
“This is something that has been in the works for a good number of years. San Carlos being a block from the Caltrain station is a wonderful location, but the building is extremely dated,” Chan said. “It really requires us to either completely retrofit and rebuild some of these systems, but still, the building wasn’t really built for an office to occupy. It was a bank that has a private apartment on the fourth floor. We basically fit an office within a bank building and a private apartment.”
The San Carlos building was purchased by SamTrans in 1990, and the cost to adequately update the site is higher than the building’s worth, according to staff reports. While previous efforts leaned toward rebuilding the structure on the same property, the agency recently pivoted its strategy to take advantage of a commercial real estate market with high vacancy rates and more affordable options. The developer of the Millbrae site was recently granted permission by the city’s Planning Commission to allow for flexibility in uses, including biotech, after struggling to find office tenants.
The deal is part of a lease-to-purchase agreement, where SamTrans will initially lease the property and has the option to purchase it after 30 months for $126 million, which will be paid over a 30-year period from SamTrans’ reserves.
But Ray Mueller, San Mateo County supervisor and SamTrans board member, said he was not persuaded it would be more cost effective to purchase a new building in the long run.
“I wasn’t convinced that a better use of taxpayer dollars wouldn’t be to remodel the building,” he said. “I respect the vote of my colleagues. I respect where they’re coming from. There are good reasons that they’ve indicated to move, certainly proximity to Caltrain and BART is convenient, but I think it’s difficult for me in the current economic climate if the case hasn’t been made to me we can’t stay.”
The current headquarters also houses Caltrain employees. While it’s still to be determined whether the rail agency will also occupy the new building, Chan said the additional space allows them the option to do so if desired.
During a Dec. 6 Board of Directors meeting, Brian Fitzpatrick, Real Estate and Property Acquisition manager at Samtrans, outlined four potentially suitable properties, including sites located in San Carlos and Redwood City. But Chan said the proximity to both BART and Caltrain stations, as well as highly-frequented bus routes, made the Gateway at Millbrae location the most appealing.
“Assuming that we do exercise the option to purchase this location, I think it’s a great location to both attract and retain employees. It really furthers the mission of SamTrans as an agency that we want to encourage people to take transit,” Chan said. “Our employees would be able to commute via transit to the location because of the convenience. Right now, for a lot of the East Bay employees, it takes them an incredibly long time if they were to ride transit to their headquarters. With this new option, it makes it so much easier for that to happen.”
The headquarters is located to the east side of the Millbrae BART and Caltrain station, between the Station 16 apartment and retail building and the Residence Inn by Marriott hotel. All board members voted to move forward with the lease-to-purchase agreement except for Mueller.
(7) comments
I thought BART owns the land under those buildings and gave the developer a 100 year lease.
Thank god for Ray Mueller - San Mateo County Supervisor - District 3 who is currently the only dissenting voice against this move, this new location.
I would ask April Chan to walk across the street from the building at 1250 San Carlos avenue and or go sit outside kitty-corner at Starbucks and gaze over to the current building and try to a realization why moving this beautiful building because (1) East bay employees want to be closer to Millbrae - and - (2) there is too much retrofit to do to bring 1250 San Carlos Ave up to snuff? Why the last 10-30 years did the powers to be start working on MAINTAINING the building the way they wanted?
What about the Hundreds of employees that do not find it difficult to get to San Carlos? What about the 100's of SamTrans and CalTran dignitaries that go out the front door at San Carlos and can grab a great lunch within steps and minutes of leaving their desks.
What about the fact that San Mateo County Sheriff and Transit Police are located nearby, so close that they can be dispatched to emergencies on the train or buses within seconds.
Some employees walk from the Train depot in San Carlos to their desks in less than 100 paces.
Could CEO Chan show me the nitty gritty details of the former bank and the apartment located on the top floor, please. Who owned/rented the apartment? Frank Sinatra? Raymond Burr? Tracy Chapman?
A Sam Trans Bus Operator with a 10-20 min break can walk from 555 El Camino (San Carlos Transit Center) over to 1250 San Carlos Ave to take care of paper work or retirement papers in less than 5 minutes and complete their task way within their allotted break.
Foot-traffic: Hundreds of people living in and around San Carlos walk from their homes, without having to move their cars out of their drive-ways, over to 1250 San Carlos ave and get their Clipper Cards updated or money added on. As far as any Peninsula city is concerned, there is not another population that walk within their town as do San Carlans.
Why move the headquarters closer to Sam Trans's North Base Bus Yard?
SamTrans South Base Maintenance & Bus Yard located in San Carlos Airport 501 Pico Blvd, San Carlos, CA 94070 - currently has dozens of employees that can drive to the San Carlos Headquarters and back to South Base in most likely 20 minutes total.
Lastly - Millbrae residents are going to, once again, feel affects of the homeless population because they tend to favor some of the areas (SC Transit Center) where a transit headquarters is located.
FIX. THE. CURRENT. BUILDING.
Just Mike - the apartment has a colorful history. I did an energy audit once in that building and the apartment is, or was, over the top ostentatious. It takes a good part of the top floor. For those new to the area, the building was the headquarters of the Savings and Loan scandal in which several politicians were involved. Then, the infamous DeLorean was interviewed there by the FBI and trapped, in the same apartment. Also note that Ms. Chan's authority is going to force the CalTrain personnel to look for quarters as if that agency is flush with money. All together another tone deaf move by a CEO who should be wiser with our money.
Hopefully the new location will help staff and board appreciate how annoying the spur on the 292 going to the west side of the station is, and encourage them to move the connection to the east side of the station.
John - can you further explain? So, you want them to move the entire headquarters because the Bus Ops analytics people don't know how to more efficiently lay out a bus route?
Anything to save five minutes on the ride, Mike! :-) Actually, my comment was more to the point that we need more of the planners riding the service they run,
It sounds like SamTrans is flush with money. Obviously there’s no need to approve any additional fees or taxes to support mass transportation. Remember this building when you hear of efforts to take more money out of your wallets. Perhaps SamTrans wants more money to move into even posher digs in a few years.
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