The city is moving forward with a mixed-use building proposal on a longtime vacant lot, which will provide 28 for-sale units and a small commercial retail space.
The five-story site is located at 230 S. El Camino Real, on the corner of East Third Avenue, which has been vacant for over a decade and was formerly a gas station. While previous developments had been proposed at the location over the years, opposition at the city level prevented them from moving forward. With the passage of the city’s Measure T in 2024 — which increased height and density limits in certain areas — and an increasing number of state laws pushing project approvals, Evan Sockalosky, partner and design director at Arc Tec, said this most recent application is the most well-suited for success.
“We started this project … back before 2014 with the old zoning and old designations, trying to initially get a residential project that was not able to be done,” Sockalosky said during a Planning Commission meeting March 10. “San Mateo’s choice to adopt Measure T and increase densities, as well as the state’s [Assembly Bill] 2097 which allowed us to reduce parking standards, allowed us to come back.”
The development would provide 28 condominiums, a mix of studio to two-bedroom units, with a ground floor commercial retail space and 16 parking spaces.
“Having lived here for many, many years, and driving by first the gas station and then of course the vacant lot, it’s nice to see that location finally having something worthy be proposed here,” Planning Commissioner Adam Klafter said during the meeting.
As the state imposes stricter mandates and more incentives to build housing, denser places like the Bay Area have started seeing more multiunit residential applications proposed by developers, which tend to be rental units. Many city leaders and housing advocates have lauded any developments that could significantly increase housing stock, however, some have also lamented the lack of for-sale units getting constructed as a result.
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“It’s also nice to see some condos being constructed,” Klafter said. “We’ve seen a lot of rental projects.”
The project is not the only one in the pipeline offering for-sale units, however, with one of them being a new proposed neighborhood with single-family homes and condominiums that would replace the office park on South Amphlett Boulevard.
While supportive of the project, Chair Seema Patel said she hoped more units would have been proposed on the site, however, especially given the number of units could have been over double what was proposed.
“This is the perfect location for high-density housing,” Patel said. “I’m a little bit sad that there is not more housing on this site.”
The Planning Commission voted 4-0 to approve the development planning application.
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