The San Mateo City Council approved another downtown development, an eight-story residential building at 668 E. Third Ave. that will replace the one-story Gateway Crossing shopping center.
The site is on the corner of East Third Avenue and South Delaware Street — which currently houses a 7-Eleven and several food establishments, such as Zen Noodle Bar and Ike’s Place. Out of the 128 units, 20 would be below-market-rate, half for very low-income brackets and the other half for moderate-income households. A below-grade parking structure will provide 73 parking spaces.
The project is able to take advantage of several housing laws that have passed over the last several years, such as Assembly Bill 130, which went into effect last year and expedites review due to an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act. Like many of the city’s recent development applications, the proposal is also eligible for the Housing Affordability Act, which limits a city’s ability to deny a housing proposal if it meets objective standards. The project also takes advantage of state density bonus law, which provides additional density benefits to developers if their projects meet certain criteria.
“It’s receiving a 50% density increase for the first 10 affordable units and another 50% density increase for the next 10 at the moderate-income level,” Associate Planner Liz Gagliardi said during a council meeting March 2. “The project takes advantage of the full allowable density increase available under state law.”
Harvest Properties originally planned to redevelop the site a few years ago with a six-story commercial office building and a seven-story residential building, though Prometheus is now spearheading the project and first submitted its new development in 2024.
Prometheus has had a longtime presence in the city, including downtown San Mateo. The firm is also planning a mixed-use development at the former Draeger’s Market, at 222 E. Fourth Ave. The current building will be demolished to build a mixed-use development with a grocery store, 104,000 square feet of office space and 10 low-income housing units. It also recently announced that the mixed-use Brickline development — the site of the former Trag’s Market at 301 Baldwin Ave. — is fully leased, with six ground floor retail and four office tenants, one of which includes Prometheus’ corporate office.
The council unanimously approved the 668 E. Third Ave. development.
“While it may seem large ... it’s also in a somewhat confined space, and it’s using its footprint for an impressive number of residents, and I do think that is important as well,” Mayor Adam Loraine said during the meeting.
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