San Mateo leads way in development proposals

Two preliminary applications were recently submitted, one at 22 N. San Mateo Drive just north of Baldwin Avenue — which proposes a seven-story building with 162 housing units — and another at Pioneer Court, which proposes 10 new units.  

Last month, a preliminary application for 220 W. 20th Ave. was filed and would require the demolition of an existing one-story office building and construction of a seven-story residential development with 230 units, 23 of which would be allocated for low-income households. The development at 1218 Monte Diablo Ave., at an old convenience store on the east side of Highway 101, would consist of 72 residential units, a combination of both townhomes and apartment units.

Other cities have seen some application upticks since, as of last year, many finished adoption of their housing elements — state-mandated documents outlining how jurisdictions will achieve required housing mandates through a mix of zoning and other policy changes. Burlingame, for instance, has seen more development proposals in some of its industrial areas, said Jordan Grimes, State and Regional Resilience manager at Greenbelt Alliance, but San Mateo has certainly seen the most activity out of most Peninsula cities.

“There is an influx of projects in the city,” Grimes said. “So now that we have changed what you can build in San Mateo, unsurprisingly, people are taking advantage of that.”

Redwood City has only seen a few proposals, and South City, typically considered a pro-housing city, hasn’t seen any new residential developments come through so far this year.

“Redwood City had their big San Mateo moment in 2011 when they redid their downtown plan, and the housing growth that came was largely a result of that rezoning, so San Mateo is having a similar experience now,” Grimes said.

Since the passage of Measure T — which increased height and density limits in several parts of the city, including near Caltrain stations — the city has seen a surge in large development proposals. Plans to demolish the Hillsdale Shopping Center and replace it with a mix of office buildings, retail stores and about 1,400 housing units were submitted in February. The developers of a proposal on South Amphlett Boulevard submitted their formal application in March, which included plans to  demolish office buildings and construct about 250 residential units, a mix of townhomes and single-family houses. Updated plans for the 678 Concar Drive redevelopment were also submitted to the city this year, which would create about 869 housing units, as well as commercial spaces.

Tom Morgan, president of the neighborhood association group San Mateo United, said he feels Measure T is a factor in the application uptick but that the lending landscape was starting to pick up for developers this year anyway.

“Developers thought, ‘Maybe it makes sense for us to start putting applications in because financing is looking better,’” he said. “Coming in to the year, people expected interest rates to come down a bit, and then obviously everything got blown up in April with tariffs.”

He added that the residential development along corridors like El Camino Real and major public transit, like Caltrain stops, is beneficial. But he has some concern about the traffic safety for development proposals such as the West 20th Avenue and Monte Diablo Avenue projects.

“They are more in the neighborhoods, so it gets more challenging with safety … hopefully they make sure both those projects are going to be light on cars,” Morgan said. “We just saw the budget and capital investment needs … so it would be really good for the applicants to listen to the neighbors because they’ve lived here and made it a great place.”

But Grimes said San Mateo has likely seen the biggest uptick in development proposals of any city in the county so far this year, a testament to the pent-up demand for more housing.

“This phenomenon is unique to San Mateo,” he said. “There is a common refrain that cities don’t build housing, which is true, but they do set the conditions under which it can be built, and I think San Mateo is a good example of how potent and how powerful that is.”