A model development

For one, there is the neighborhood. While the block upon which it sits — Redwood City’s Birch Street, between Whipple and Hopkins avenues — does indeed contain both single-family homes and multifamily housing (primarily, three- and four-story apartment buildings), it also contains a number of small office buildings, many of which provide medical services. In fact, the project property today contains a one-story office building with a handful of tenants. Thus, this is the rare project that would replace office space with housing.

The project is well-located, Birch Street being just two short blocks from El Camino Real. With SamTrans running up and down El Camino Real, and Redwood City’s Caltrain station just a half-mile’s walk away, the site is well-positioned for those inclined to use public transit. For those with cars, each of the townhomes is slated to include a two-car garage. Finally, the plans also show space within each unit sufficient to store at least one bicycle.

The nine townhouses would be grouped into two buildings (five units in one, and four in the other) standing perpendicular to Birch Street and separated by a common driveway. Unlike with many townhouses, the ground floor of each unit would not only contain its garage, but also the unit’s entry and stairwell, a den (or office), a bathroom complete with shower, and a good-sized closet. Plus, one additional feature I’ll get to shortly.

In California, most townhouses are three stories, with the garage on the ground floor, the common living spaces (living room, dining room, kitchen and, usually, a half bath) on the second floor, and the bedrooms and their accompanying bathrooms on the third. Here, the townhouses will be four stories in height, with two full bedrooms and bathrooms, plus a laundry room, on the third floor. Then, on the fourth floor, each unit would have a third bedroom and bath, plus a “flex space” with double-doors opening out onto a roughly 220-square-foot rooftop deck.

If it sounds like living in one of these units would involve navigating a lot of stairs, you would be right — sort-of. That additional feature I alluded to earlier? Each unit has been designed to optionally accommodate a private elevator running from the garage all the way up to the fourth floor. While I believe these elevators are an extra-cost option needing to be requested by the initial buyer of each unit (perhaps one could be added in later — the shaft will presumably be there regardless — but installing one after-the-fact seems complicated), I would think that almost anyone interested in one of these units would see value in having an elevator, if only when it comes to sell their unit. My parents learned the value of such an amenity when they built their two-story “retirement home” and included one of these personal elevators. It proved handy for tasks such as transporting a large grocery load up to the kitchen level, and became priceless later on when my mother could no longer navigate the stairs.

In this project’s original design, all nine units lined up shoulder to shoulder, but to preserve a tall redwood that today stands in the back corner of the property, the updated design has one of the units — one with a ground-floor bathroom that is adaptable to meet ADA requirements — turned 90 degrees. This change not only leaves room for that tree, but also creates a nice bit of open space that can be used by any of the complex’s residents.

When one thinks about converting office space to housing, one often imagines converting a tall downtown building. But plenty of office buildings are small, standalone structures like the one currently located at 77 Birch St., and a few are in areas where housing fits in nicely. So, although this project would make but a tiny dent in our jobs/housing imbalance, it’s a step in the right direction. The change from office to residential use is already attracting attention as a model for how development should be done, and the nice designs and unique features of this particular project will undoubtedly attract attention from potential buyers as well.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.